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HEAVEN: 



WHERE IT IS, ITS INHABITANTS, AND HOW 

TO GET THERE. 



THE GKAVE, AND THE REWAKDS THAT 

ARE IN STORE FOR FAITHrUL 

SERVICE. 



AS GLEANED FROM SACRED SCRIPTURE. 



BY 



D. L. MOODY. 



"And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to sh ne in it ; 
for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." 

A 

i JAH 26 18C. 



CHICAGO : f , 

48 AND 150 Madison StUi 
(Puhlisher of ^Evangelical Literature. 



F. H. Betixi., 148 AND 150 Madison StUeet 



V'^ 






Eaterel according to Act of Congress, in the years 1880 and 1884, by 

F. H. EEYELL, 
In the Offic3 of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



'Ti)^ RESERVED, 

The Library 
OF CoNnuESS 




WASHINGTON 






Printed and bound by J. L. Regan & Co., Chicago. 



PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION. 



This little book, upon a subject that is very dear to me, has been 
carefully revised, and is sent forth in the hope that it may give 
comfort and edification to many ; that the weak may be strength- 
ened, the sorrowing consoled, and the despondent encouraged to 
look with increased faith to that fairest of fair cities in the " Better 
Land," which is the home of the Redeemer and the redeemed. 

Many books have been published in this country in my name, 

but none of them with authority, and the only motive inspiring 
this small volume is that souls may be helped. 

D. L. MOODY. 

NORTHFIELD, MaSS., 1880. 



PUBLISHER'S NOTE TO SECOND EDITION. 



The unprecedented sale of ** Heaven," which has in the four 
years since its first publication reached almost ninety thousand 
copies, has caused the plates to become very much worn, and we 
have taken this occasion in making entirely new electrotype 
plates, to carefully revise the book and materially improve its 
mechanical execution. That it may in its improved form go forth 
to an enlarged mission of usefulness is the hope of 

THE PUBLISHEE. 

Chicago, January 1, 1885. 



ITS HOPE 



^e cKonie of Ifie §ouF. 



"That imcliaiigeable home is for you and for me, 
Where Jesus of Nazareth stands; 
The King of all kingdoms forever is He, 
And He holdeth our crowns in His hands. 

" Oh, how sweet it will be in that beautiful land, 
So free from all sorrow and pain; 
With songs on our lips and with harps in our hands 
To meet one another again." 



CHAPTEE I. 

ITS HOPE. 



We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ 
* * * for the HOPE which is laid up for you in heaven. 

Col. i, 3, 5 

A great many persons imagine that anything said 
about heaven is only a matter of speculation. They 
talk about heaven much as they would about the air. 
Now there would not have been so much in Scripture 
on this subject if God had wanted to leave the human 
race in darkness about it. " All Scripture," we are 
told, " is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable 
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction 
in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect 
— thoroughly furnished unto all good works." II Tim. 
iii, 16, 17. What the Bible says about heaven is just 
as true as what it says about everything else. The 
Bible is inspired. What we are taught about heaven 
could not have come to us in any other way than by in- 
spiration. No one knew anything about it but God, 
and so if we want to find out anything about it we have 
to turn to His Word. Dr. Hodge, of Princeton, says 

7 



8 HEAVEN: 



that the best evidence of the Bible being the Word of 
God is to be found between its own two covers. It 
proves itself. In this respect it is like Christ, whose 
character proclaimed the divinity of His person. 
Christ showed Himself more than man by what He 
did. The Bible shows itself more than a human book 
by what it says. 

It is not, however, because the Bible is written with 
more than human skill, far surpassing Shakspeare or 
any other human author, and that its knowledge of 
character and the eloquence it contains are beyond the 
powers of man, that we believe it to be inspired. Men's 
ideas differ about the extent to which human skill can 
be carried, but the reason why we believe the Bible to 
be inspired is so simple that the humblest child of God 
can comprehend it. If the proof of its divine origin 
lay in its wisdom alone, a simple and uneducated man 
might not be able to believe it. We believe it is in- 
spired because there is nothing in it that could not 
have come from God. God is wise, and God is good. 
There is nothing in the Bible that is not wise, and 
there is nothing in it that is not good. If the Bible 
had anything in it that was opposed to reason, or to 
our sense of right, then, perhaps, we might think that 
it was like all the books in the world that are written 
merely by men. Books that are only human, like 
merely human lives, have in them a great deal that is 
foolish and a great deal that is wrong. The life of 
Christ alone was perfect, being both human and divine. 
Not one of the other volumes, like the Koran, that 
claims divinity of origin, agrees with common sense. 
There is nothing at all in the Bible that does not 



ITS BOP^. 9 



conform to common sense. What it tells ns about the 
world having been destroyed by a deluge, and Noah 
and his family alone being saved, is no more wonder- 
ful than what is taught in the schools, that all of the 
earth we see now, and everything upon it, came out of 
a ball of fire. It is a great deal easier to believe that 
man was made after the image of God, than to believe, 
as some young men and women are being taught now, 
that he is the offspring of a monkey. 

Like all the other wonderful works of God, this Book 
bears the sure stamp of its Author. It is like Him. 
Though man plants the seeds, God makes the flowers, 
and they are perfect and beautiful like Himself. Men 
•wrote what is in the Bible, but the work is God's. The 
more refined, as a rule, people are, the fonder they are 
of flowers, and the better they are, as a rule, the more 
they love the Bible. The fondness for flowers refines 
people, and the love of the Bible makes them better. 
All that is in the Bible about God, about man, about 
redemption, and about a future state, agrees with our 
own ideas of right, with our reasonable fears and with 
our personal experiences. All the historical events are 
described in the way that we knov/ the world had of 
looking at them when they were written. What the 
Bible tells about heaven is not half so strange as wha+ 
Prof. Proctor tells about the hosts of stars that are be- 
yond the range of any ordinary telescope; and yet 
people very often think that science is all fact, and that 
religion is only fancy. A great many persons think 
that Jupiter and many more of the stars around us are 
inhabited, who cannot bring themselves to believe that 
there is beyond this earth a life for immortal souls. 



10 HJSAVEN: 



The true Christian puts faith before reason, and believes 
that reason always goes wrong when faith is set aside. 
If people would but read their Bibles more, and study 
what there is to be found there about heaven, they 
would not be as worldly-minded as they are. They 
would not have their hearts set upon things down here, 
but would seek the imperishable things above. 

EARTH THE HOME OF SIN. 

It seems perfectly reasonable that God should have 
given us a glimpse of the future, for we are constantly 
losing some of our friends by death, and the first 
thought that comes to us is, " Where have they gone ? " 
When loved ones are taken away from, us how that 
thought comes up before us ! How we wonder if we 
will ever see them again, and where and when it will 
be ! Then it is that we turn to this blessed Book, for 
there is no other book in all the world that can give 
us the slightest comfort ; no other book that can tell us 
w^here the loved ones have gone. 

Not long ago I met an old friend, and as I took him 
by the hand and asked after his family, the tears came 
trickling down his cheeks as lie said: 

" I haven't any now." 

" What," I said, '' is your wife dead?" 

*' Yes, sir." 

" And all your children, too? " 

"Yes, all gone," he said, " and I am left here deso- 
late and alone." 

Would any one take from that man the hope that he 
will meet his dear ones again ? Would any one per- 
suade him that there is not a future where the lost will 



ITS HOPE. 11 



be found ? No, we need not forget our dear loved ones ; 
but we may cling forever to the enduring hope that 
there will be a time when we can meet unfettered, and 
be blest in that land of everlasting suns, where the soul 
drinks from the living streams of love that roll by God's 
high throne. 

In our inmost hearts there are none of us but have 
questionings of the future. 

" Tell me, my secret soul, 

O, tell me, Hope and Faith, 
Is there no resting-place 

From sorrow, sin and death? 
Is there no happy spot 

Where mortals may be blest, 
Where grief may find a balm, 
And weariness a rest? 
Faith, Hope and Love — best boons to mortals given — 
Waved their bright wings, and whispered: 
Yes, in heaven ! " 

There are men who say that there is no heaven. I 
was once talking with a man who said he thought there 
was nothing to justify us in believing in any other 
heaven than that we know here on earth. If this is 
heaven, it is a very strange one — this world of sick- 
ness, sorrow and sin. I pity from the depths of my 
heart the man or woman who has that idea. 

This world that some think is heaven, is the home of 
sin, a hospital of sorrow, a place that has nothing in it 
to satisfy the soul. Men go all over it and then want to 
get out of it. The more men see of the world the less 
they think of it. People soon grow tired of the best 
pleasures it has to offer. Some one has said that the 
world is a stormy sea, whose every wave is strewed with 
the wrecks of mortals that perish in it. Every time 



12 BEAVEN: 



we breathe some one is dying. We all know that we 
are going to stay here but a very little jwhile. Our life 
is but a vapor. It is only a shadow. 

''We meet one another," as some one has said, 
" salute one another, pass on and are gone." And an- 
other has said: " It is just an inch of time, and then 
eternal ages roll on;" and it seems to me that it is per- 
fectly reasonable that we should study this Book, to 
find out where we are going, and where our friends are 
who have gone on before. The longest time man has 
to live has no more proportion to eternity than a drop 
of dew has to the ocean. 

CITIES or THE PAST. 

Look at the cities of the past. There is Babylon. 
It is said to have been founded by a queen named Semi- 
ramis, who had two millions of men at work for years 
building it. It is nothing but dust now. Nearly a 
thousand years ago, a historian wrote that the ruins of 
Nebuchadnezzar's palace were still standing, but men 
were afraid to go near them because they were full of 
scorpions and snakes. That is the sort of ruin that 
greatness often comes to in our own day. Nineveh is 
gone. Its towers and bastions have fallen. The trav- 
eler who tries to see Carthage cannot find much of it. 
Corinth, once the seat of luxury and art, . is only a 
shapeless mass. Ephesus, long the metropolis of Asia, 
the Paris of that day, was crowded with buildings as 
large as the capitol at Washington. I am told it looks 
more like a neglected graveyard now than anything 
else. Granada, once so grand, with its twelve gates 
and towers, is now in decay. The Alhambra, the 



ITS HOPE. 13 



palace of the Mohammedan kings, was situated there. 
Little pieces of the once grand and beautiful cities of 
Herculanaeum and Pompeii are now being sold in the 
shops for relics. Jerusalem, once the joy of the whole 
earth, is but a shadow of its former self. Thebes, for 
thousands of years, up almost to the coming of Christ, 
among the largest and wealthiest cities of the world, is 
now a mass of decay. But little of ancient Athens, and 
many more of the proud cities of olden times, remain 
to tell the story of their downfall. God drives his 
plowshare through cities, and they are upheaved like 
furrows in the field. "Behold," says Isaiah, "the na- 
tions are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the 
small dust of the balance ; behold. He taketh up the 
isles as a very little thing .... All nations before 
Him are as nothing ; and they are counted to Him less 
than nothing, and vanity." 

See how Antioch has fallen . When Paul preached 
there, it was a superb metropolis. A wide street, over 
three miles long, stretching across the entire city, was 
ornamented with rows of columns and covered galler- 
ies, and at every corner stood carved statues to com- 
memorate their great men, whose names even we have 
never heard. These men are never heard of now, but 
the poor preaching tent-maker who entered its portals 
stands out as the grandest character in history. The 
finest specimens of Grecian art decorated the shrines 
of the temples, and the baths and the aqueducts were 
such as are never approached in elegance now. Men 
then, as now, were seeking honor, wealth and renown, 
and enshrining their names and records in perishable 
clay. Within the walls of Antioch, we are told, were 



14 HEAVEN: 

enclosed hills over seven hundred feet high, and rocky 
precipices and deep ravines gave a wild and picturesque 
character to the place of which no modern city affords 
an example. These heights were fortfied in a marvel- 
ous manner, which gave to them strange and startling 
effects. The vast population of this brilliant city, com- 
bining all the art and cultivation of Greece with the 
levity, the luxury and the superstition of Asia, was as 
intent on pleasure as the population of any of our great 
cities are to-day. The citizens had their shows, their 
games, their races and dancers, their sorcerers, puz- 
zlers, buffoons and miracle-workers, and the people 
sought constantly in the theaters and processions for 
something to stimulate and gratify the most corrupt 
desires of human nature. This is pretty much what 
we find the masses of the people in our great cities do- 
ing now. 

Antioch was even worse than Athens, for the so- 
called worship they indulged in was not only idolatrous, 
but had mixed up with it the grossest passions to which 
man descends. It was here that Paul came to preach 
the glad tidings of the Gospel of Christ ; it was here 
that the disciples were first called Christians, as a nick- 
name ; all followers of Christ before that time having 
been called " saints" or "brethren." As has been well 
said, out of that spring at Antioch a mighty stream 
has flowed to water the world. Astarte, the " Queen of 
Heaven," whom they worshiped; Diana, Apollo, the 
Pharisee and Saducee, are no more, but the despised 
Christians yet live. Yet that heathen city, which would 
not take Christianity to its heart and keep it, fell. 
Cities that have not the refining and restraining 



ITS HOPE. 15 



influences o£ Christianity well established in them, 
seldom do amount to much in the long run. They grow 
dim in the light o£ ages. Few of our great cities in 
this country are a hundred years old as yet. For nearly 
a thousand years this city prospered ; yet it fell. 

GOING TO EMIGKATE. 

I do not think that it is wrong for us to think and 
talk about heaven. I like to locate heaven, and find 
out all I can about it. I expect to live there through all 
eternity. If I were going to dwell in any place in this 
country, if I were going to make it my home, I would 
want to inquire about the place, about its climate, about 
the neighbors I would have, about everything, in fact, 
that I could learn concerning it. If any of you were 
going to emigrate, that would be the way you would 
feel. Well, we are are all going to emigrate in a very 
little while to a country that is very far away. We are 
going to spend eternity in another world, a grand and 
glorious world where God reigns. Is it not natural, 
then, that we should look and listen and try to find out 
who is already there, and what is the route to take ? 

Soon after I was converted, an infidel asked me one 
day why I looked up when I prayed. He said that 
heaven was no more above us than below us; that 
heaven was everywhere. Well, I was greatly bewil- 
dered, and the next time I prayed, it seemed almost as 
if I was praying into the air. Since then I have become 
better acquainted with the Bible, and I have come to 
see that heaven is above us ; that it is upward, and not 
downward. The Spirit of God is everywhere, but God 
is in heaven, and heaven is above our heads. It does 



16 HEAVEN: 



not matter what part of the globe we may stand upon, 
heaven is above us. 

In the 17th chapter of Genesis it says that God 
went ^^J3 from Abraham ; and m the 3d chapter of John, 
that the Son of Man came doitm from heaven. So, in 
the 1st chapter of Acts we find that Christ v/ent up in- 
to heaven (not down), and a cloud received him out of 
sight. Thus we see heaven is up. The very arrange- 
ment of the firmament about the earth declares the seat 
of God's glory to be above us. Job says : " Let not God 
regard it from above.'^'^ Again, in Deuteronomy, we 
find, ''who shall go up for us to heaven?" Thus, 
f^::ll through Scripture we find that we are given the 
location of heaven as upward and beyond the firma- 
ment. This firmament, with its many bright worlds 
scattered through, is so vast that heaven must be an ex- 
tensive realm. Yet this need not surprise us. It is 
not for short-sighted man to inquire why God made 
heaven so extensive that its lights along the way can 
be seen from any part or side of this little world. 

In Jeremiah li, 15, we are told: '' He hath made 
the earth by His power ; He hath established the world 
by His wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by 
His understanding." Yet, how little we really know of 
that power, or wisdom or understanding! As we read in 
Job: " Lo, these are parts of his ways; but how little a 
portion is heard of Him ? But the thunder of His power, 
who can understand? " 

This is the word of God. As we find in the 42nd 
chapter of Isaiah: "Thus saith God the Lord, He 
that created the heavens and stretclied them out; He 
that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out 



ITS HOPE. 17 



of it ; He that giveth bread unto the people upon it, and 
spirit to them that walk within." 

The discernment of God's power, the messages of 
heaven, do not always come in great things. We read 
in the 19th chapter of the first book of Kings: 

" And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind 
rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; 
but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earth- 
quake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earth- 
quake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a 
still small voice." 

It is as a still small voice that God speaks to His 
children. Some people are trying to find out just how 
far heaven is away. There is one thing we know about 
it; that is, that is not so far away but that God can 
hear us when we pray. I do not believe there has 
ever been a tear shed for sin since Adam's fall in^den 
to the present time, but God has witnessed it. v. He is 
not too far from earth for us to go to Him ; and 
if there is a sigh that comes from a burdened heart 
to-day, God will hear that sigh. If there is a cry 
coming up from a heart broken on account of sin, God 
will Lear that cry. He is not so far away, heaven is 
not so far awav, as to be inaccessible to the smallest 
child. In II Chronicles we read: 

*' If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble them- 
selves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked 
ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive them their 
sins, and will heal their land." 

When I was in Dublin, they were telling me about 
a father who had lost a little boy. This father had not 
thought about the future, he had been so entirely taken 
up with this world and its affairs ; but when that little 
boy, his only child, died, that father's heart was broken, 
2 



18 HEAVEN: 



and every night when he returned from work he 
might be found in his room with his candle and his 
Bible, hunting up all that he could find there about 
heaven. Some one asked him what he was doing, 
and he said he w^as trying to find out where his 
child had gone, and I think he was a reasonable man. 
I suppose no one will ever read this page who has not 
dear ones that are gone. Shall we close this Book to- 
day, or shall we look into it to try to find where the 
loved ones are ? I was reading, some time ago, an ac- 
count of a father, a minister, who had lost a child. He 
had gone to a great many funerals, offering com- 
fort to others in sorrow, but now the iron had entered 
his own soul, and a brother minister had come to offici- 
ate and preach the funeral sermon; and after this min- 
ister had finished speaking, the father got up, and 
standing at the head of the coffin, he said that a few 
years ago, when he had first come into that parish, 
as he used to look over the river he took no interest in 
the people over there, because they were all strangers 
to him and there were none over there that belonged 
to his parish. But, he said, a few years ago a young man 
came into his home, and married his daughter, and she 
went over the river to live, and when his child went over 
there, he became suddenly interested in the inhabitants, 
and every morning as he arose he would look out of the 
window across the river to her home. " But now," 
said he, " another chiM has been taken. She has gone 
over another river, and heaven seems dearer and nearer 
to me now than it ever has before." 

My friends, let us believe this good old Book, be 
confident that heaven is not a myth, and be prepared to 



ITS HOPE. 19 



follow the dear ones who have gone before. Thus^ and 
thus alone, can we find the peace we seek for. 

SEEKING A BETTER COUNTRY. 

What has been, and is now, one of the strongest feel- 
ings in the human heart? Is it not to find some bet- 
ter place, some lovelier spot, than w^e have now? It is 
for this that men are seeking everywhere ; and they 
can have it if they will ; but instead of looking down, 
they must look itp to find it. As men grow in knowl- 
edge, they vie with each other more and more in mak- 
ing their homes attractive, but the brightest home on 
earth is but an empty barn, compared with the man- 
sions in the skies. 

What is it that we look for at the decline and close 
of life ? Is it not some sheltered place, some quiet 
spot, where, if we cannot have constant rest, we may at 
least have a foretaste of the rest that is to be ? What 
was it that led Columbus, not knowing what would be 
his fate, across the unsailed western seas, if it were not 
the hope of finding a better country ? This it was that 
sustained the hearts of the Pilgrim Fathers, driven 
from their native land by persecution, as they faced an 
iron-bound, savage coast, with an unexplored territory 
beyond. They were cheered and upheld by the hope 
of reaching a free and -fruitful country, where they 
could be at rest and worship God in peace. 

Somewhat similar is the Christian's hope of heaven, 
only it is not an undiscovered country, and in attrac- 
tions cannot be compared with anything we know on 
earth. Perhaps nothing but the shortness of our range 
of sight keeps us from seeing the celestial gates all 



20 HEAVEN, 



open to "US, and nothing but the deafness o£ our ears 
prevents our hearing the joyful ringing of the bells of 
heaven. There are constant sounds around us that we 
cannot hear, and the sky is studded with bright worlds 
that our eyes have never seen. Little as we know 
about this bright and radiant land, there are glimpses 
of its beauty that come to us now and then. 

" We may not know how sweet its balmy air, 
How bright and fair its flowers; 
We may not hear the songs that echo there, 
Through these enchanted bowers. 

" The city's shining towers we may not see 
With our dim earthly vision, 
For Death, the silent warder, keeps the key 
That opes the gates Elysian. 

" But sometimes when adoAvu the western sky 
A fiery sunset lingers, 
Its golden gate swings inward noiselessly, 
Unlocked by unseen fingers. 

" And while they stand a moment half ajar, 
Gleams from the inner glory 
Stream brightly through the azure vault afar. 
And half reveal the story." 

It is said by travelers that in climbing the Alps the 
houses of far distant villages can be seen with great 
distinctness, so that sometimes the number of panes 
of glass in a church window can be counted. The 
distance looks so short that the place to which the trav- 
eler is journeying appears almost at hand, but after 
hours and hours of climbing it seems no nearer yet. 
This is because of the clearness of the atmosphere. 
By perseverance, however, the place is reached at last, 
and the tired traveler finds rest. So sometimes we 
dwell in high altitudes of grace; heaven seems very near, 



ITS HOPE. 21 



and the liills o£ Beulali are in full view. At other 
times the clouds and fogs caused by suffering and sin 
cut off our sight. We are just as near heaven in the 
one case as we are in the other, and we are just as sure 
of gaining it if we only keep in the path that Christ 
has pointed out. 

I have read that on the shores of the Adriatic sea the 
wives of fishermen, whose husbands have gone far out 
upon the deep, are in the habit of going down to the 
sea-shore at night and singing with their sweet voices 
the first verse of some beautiful hymn. After they 
have sung it they listen until they hear brought on the 
wind, across the sea, the second verse sung by their 
brave husbands as they are tossed by the gale — and 
both are happy. Perhaps, if we would listen, we too 
might hear on this storm-tossed world of ours, some 
sound, some whisper, borne from afar to tell us there 
is a Heaven which is our home ; and when we sing our 
hymns upon the shores of the earth, perhaps we may 
hear their sweet echoes breaking in music upon the 
sands of time, and cheering the hearts of those who 
are pilgrims and strangers along the way. Yes, we 
need to look up — out,' beyond this low earth, and to 
build higher in our thoughts and actions, even here ! 

Tou know, when a man is going up in a balloon, he 
takes in sand as ballast, and when he wants to mount a 
little higher, he throws out some of it, and then he 
will mount a little higher ; he throws out a little more 
ballast, and he mounts still higher; and the more he 
throws out the higher he gets, and so the more we 
have to throw out of the things of this world the nearer 
we get to God. Let go of them ; let us not set our 



22 HEAVEN: 



hearts and affections on them, but do what the Master 
tells us — lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven. 

In England I was told of a lady who had been bed- 
ridden for years. She was one of those saints whom 
God polishes up for the kingdom ; for I believe there 
are many saints in this world whom we never hear 
about; we never see their names heralded through the 
press; they live very near the Master; they live very 
near heaven ; and I think it takes a great deal more 
grace to suffer God's will than it does to do it; and if 
a person lies on a bed of sickness, and suffers cheer- 
fully, it is just as acceptable to God as if they went 
out and worked in His vineyard. 

Now this lady was of those saints. She said that 
for a long time she used to have a great deal of 
pleasure in watching a bird that came to make its nest 
near her window. One year it came to make its nest, 
aud it began to build so low down she was afraid some- 
thing would happen to the young; and every day that 
she saw that bird busy at work making its nest, she 
kept saying, '' O bird, build higher! " She could see 
that the bird was likely to come to grief and disap- 
pointment. At last the bird got its nest done, and laid 
its eggs and hatched its young; and every morning the 
lady looked out to see if the nest was there, and she 
saw the old bird bringing food for the little ones, and 
she took a great deal of pleasure looking at it. But 
one morning she awoke, looked out, and she saw nothing 
but feathers scattered all around, and she said: "Ah, 
the cat has got the old bird and all her young." It would 
have been a kindness to have torn that nest down. 
That is what God does for us very often — just snatches 



IfS MOPS. 2g 



things away before it is too late. Now, I think that 
is what we want to say to professing Christians — if 
you build for time you will be disappointed. God 
says: Build up yonder. It is a good deal better to 
have life with Christ in God than anywhere else. I 
would rather have my life hid with Christ in God than 
be in Eden as Adam was. Adam might have remained 
in Paradise for 16,000 years, and then fallen, but if 
our life is hid in Christ, how safe! 



©J'^oug'^tx^ of (Konf]e. 



BY ANNA SHIPTON. 



Lord, 'twas Thine to labor and wear the thorns for me; 
Thou sharest all my sorrows; Thou knowest what 'twill be 
To see the Father's glory, to hear Thy welcome there, 
Where never cross or burden remains for us to bear. 

1 seem to pace the glittering street, and hear the harps of gold, 
The echo of the new song that never groweth old; 

I hear Thy praise, Lord Jesus, my Life, my Lord, my King, 
Until my worn heart pineth the strains of heaven to sing. 

Safe in the better country my loved ones I shall find, 
And some in that bright multitude I feared were left behind; 
Then loud shall sound our praises within the jasper vvall, 
As cherubim and seraphim before the Holiest fall. 

With folded wings, expectant, the angel bands will come 
To listen to the tale of grace that wooed the children home; 
And sitting at Thy feet, Lord, my joyful lips shall tell 
How much Ho hath forgiven, who *' doeth all things well." 

Thou blessed Spirit, cheering this valley land for me, 
With glimpses of the glory of that which soon shall be; 
Each harpstring, dull and broken, Thy gentle breath awaits; 
Then let me sing of Jesus up to the golden gates. 



24 



ITS INHABITANTS. 



eK bittFe (^a^/, 



" A little way ! I know it is not far 
To that dear home where my beloved are; 
And still my heart sits, like a bird, upon 
The empty nest, and mourns its treasures gone, 

Plumed for their flight. 

And vanished quite. 
Ah me! Where is the comfort? Though I say 
They have but journeyed on a little way. 

" A little way ! At times they seem so near, 
Their voices even murmur in my ear. 
To all my duties loving presence lend, 
And with sweet ministry my steps attend. 
'Twas here we met and parted company; 
Why sliould their gain be such a grief to me? 
This sense of loss! 
This heavy cross! 
Dear Savior, take the burden off, I pray, 
And show me heaven is but — a little way. 

" A little way? The sentence I repeat. 
Hoping and longing to extract some sweet 
To mingle with the bitter; from Thy hand 
I take the cup I cannot understand, 
And in my weakness give myself to Thee. 
Although it seems so very, very far 
To that dear home where my beloved are, 
I know, I know, 
• It is not so; 
Oh, give me faith to believe it when I say 
That they are gone — gone but a little way." 

— Anon. 



ITS INHABITANTS. 27 



CHAPTEK II. 

ITS INHABITANTS. 



The inhabitant shall not say, I am sick. The people that dwell 
therein shall be forgiven their iniquity. Isaiah xxxiii, 34 

The society of heaven will be select. No one who 
studies Scripture can doubt that. There are a good 
many kinds of aristocracy in this world, but the aris- / 
tocracy of heaven will be the aristocracy of holiness.^ 
The humblest believer on earth will be an aristocrat 
there. It says in the 57th chapter of Isaiah: "For 
thus saith the High and Lofty One, that inhab- 
iteth eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the 
high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite 
and humble spirit." Now what could be plainer than 
that? No one who is not of a contrite and humble 
spirit will dwell with God in His high and holy 
place. 

If there is anything that ought to make heaven near 
to Christians, it is knowing that God and all their loved 
ones will be there. AVhat is it that makes home so at- 
tractive ? Is it because we have a beautiful home ? Is 
it because we have beautiful lawns ? Is it because we 
have beautiful trees around us ? Is it because we have 
beautiful paintings upon the walls inside ? Is it be- 
cause we have beautiful furniture? Is that all that 



28 HEAVJSN: 



makes home so attractive and beautiful? Nay, it is 
the loved ones in it ; it is the loved ones there. 

I remember after being away from home some time, 
I went back to see my honored mother, and I thought 
in going back I would take her by surprise, and steal in 
unexpectedly upon her, but when I found she had gone 
away, the old place didn't seem like home at all. I 
went into one room and then into another, and all 
through the house, but I could not find that loved 
mother, and I asked some member of the family, 
'' Where is mother ? " and they said she had gone away. 
Well, homfe had lost its charm to me ; it was that mother 
who made home so sweet to me, and it is the loved ones 
who make home so sweet to every one ; it is the presence 
of the loved ones that will make heaven so sweet to all 
of us. Christ is there ; God, the Father, is there ; and 
many, many who were dear to us when they lived on 
earth are there — and we shall be with them by and by. 

We find clearly in the 18th chapter of Matthew, 10th 
verse, that the angels are there: " Take heed that ye 
despise not one of these little ones ; for I say unto you, 
that in heaven, their angels do always behold the face 
of my Father which is in heaven." 

"Their angels do always behold the Father's face!" 
We shall have good company up there ; not only those 
who have been redeemed, but those who have never 
been lost; those who have never known what it is to 
transgress ; those who have never known what it is to be 
disobedient ; who have obeyed Him from the very morn- 
ing of creation. 

It says in Luke i, when Gabriel came down to tell 
Zachariah that he was to be the father of the forerunner 



ITS INHABITANTS. 29 

of Jesus Christ, Zachariah doubted him ; he had never 
been doubted before ; and that doubt is met with the 
declaration: "I am Gabriel, that standeth in the 
presence of God." What a glorious thing to be able 
to say! 

It has been said that there will be three things 
which will surprise us when we get to heaven — one, to 
find many whom we did not expect to find there ; an- 
other, to find some not there whom we had expected; 
a third, and perhaps the greatest wonder — to find our- 
selves there. 

A poor woman once told Rowland Hill that the way 
to heaven was short, easy and simple ; comprising only 
three steps — out of self, into Christ, and into glory. 
We have a shorter way now — out of self and into 
Christ, and we are there. As a dead man cannot in- 
herit an estate, no more can a dead soul inherit heaven. 
The soul must be raised up in Christ. Among the 
good whom we hope to meet in heaven, we are told, 
there will be every variety of character, taste, and dis- 
position. There is not one mansion there ; there are 
many. There is not one gate to heaven, but many. 
There are not only three gates on the north ; but on the 
east three gates, and on the west three gates, and on 
the south three gates. From opposite divisions of the 
theological compass, from opposing standpoints of the 
religious world, from difi'erent quarters of human life 
and character, through various expressions of their 
common faith and hope, through diverse modes of con- 
version, through different portions of the Holy Scrip- 
ture, will the weary travelers enter the Heavenly City, 
and meet each other — "not without surprise" — on the 



30 HEAVEN: 



shores of the same river of life. And on those shores 
they will find a tree bearing, not the same kind of fruit 
always and at all times, but "twelve manner of fruits," 
for every different turn of mind, — for the patient suf- 
ferer, for the active servant, for the holy and humble 
philosopher, for the spirits of just men now at last made 
perfect; and "the leaves of the tree shall be for the 
healing," not of one single churcli or people only, not 
for the Scotchman or the Englishman only, but for the 
"healing of the nations," — the Frenchman, the Ger- 
man, the Italian, the Russian — for all those from whom 
it may be, in this world, its fruits have been farthest 
removed, but who, nevertheless, have "hungered and 
thirsted after righteousness," and who therefore "shall 
be filled." 

An eminent living divine says : " When I was a boy, 
I thought of heaven as a great, shining city, with vast 
walls and domes and spires, and with nobody in it ex- 
cept white-robed angels, who were strangers to me. 
By and by my little brother died ; and I thought of a 
great city with walls and domes and spires, and a flock 
of cold, unknown angels, and one little fellow that I 
was acquainted with. He was the only one I knew at 
that time. Then another brother died ; and there were 
two that I knew. Then my acquaintances began to 
die; and the flock continually grew. But it was not 
till I had sent one of my little children to his Heavenly 
Parent — God — that I began to think I had a little in 
myself. A second went, a third went; a fourth Avent; 
and by that time I had so many acquaintances in 
heaven, that I did not see any more walls and domes 
and spires. I began to think of the residents of the 



ITS INHABITANTS. 31 

celestial city as my friends. And now so many of my 
acquaintances have gone there, that it sometimes seems 
to me that I know more people in heaven than I do on 
earth." 

WE SHALL LIVE FOREVER. 

It says in John xii, 26: " If any man serve Me, let 
him follow Me; and where I am, there shall also My 
servant be." 

I cannot agree with some people, that Paul has been 
sleeping in the grave, and is still there, after the storms 
of eighteen hundred years. I cannot believe that he 
*who loved the Master, who had such a burning zeal 
for Him, has been separated from Him in an uncon- 
scious state. ''Father, I will that they also, whom 
Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am ; that they 
may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me." 
This is Christ's prayer. 

Now when a man believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, 
he receives eternal life. A great many people make a 
mistake right there; ''He that believeth on the Son 
hath — h-a-t-h — hath eternal life ; " it does not say he 
shall have it when he comes to die ; it is in the present 
tense ; it is mine now — if I believe. It is the gift of 
God, that is enough. You cannot Wry the gift of God; 
you cannot bury eternal life. ^ All the grave-dig- 
gers in the world cannot dig a grave large enough 
and deep enough to hold eternal life; all the coffin- 
makers in the world cannot make a coffin large enough 
and strong enough to hold eternal life; it is mine; 
it is mine! 

I believe when Paul said: "To be absent from the 



32 HEAVEN: 



body and present with the Lord," he meant what he 
said ; that he was not going to be separated from Him 
for eighteen hundred years ; the spirit that was given 
him when he was converted he had from a new life and 
a new nature, and they could not lay that away in the 
sepulchre ; they could not bury it, that flew to meet its 
Maker. Even the body shall be raised; this body, 
sown in dishonor, shall be raised in glory; this body 
which has known corruption, shall put on incorruption, 
and this mortal shall put on immortality. It is only a 
question of time. The great morning of the world 
will, by-and-by, dawn upon the earth, and the dead shall 
come forth and shall hear the voice of Him who is "the 
resurrection and the life." 

Paul says: "If our earthly house of this tabernacle 
were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not 
made with hands, eternal in the heavens." He could 
take down the clay temple, and leave that, but he had a 
better house. He says in one place: "I am in a strait be- 
twixt two ; having a desire to depart and be with Christ, 
which is far better ; nevertheless to abide in the flesh is 
more needful for you." To me, it is a sweet thought to 
think that death does not separate us from the Mas- 
ter. A great many people are living continually in 
the bondage of death, but if I have eternal life, death 
cannot touch that; it may touch the house I live in; it 
may change my countenance and send my body away 
to the grave, but it cannot touch this new life. 

To me it is very sad to think that so many professed 
Christians look upon death as they do. I received some 
time ago a letter from a friend in London, and I 
thought, as I read it, I would take it and show it to 



ITS INHABITANTS. 33 

other people and see if I could not get them to look 
upon death as this friend does. He had lost his beloved 
mother. In England it is a very common thing to send 
out cards in memory of the departed ones, and they put 
upon them great borders of black — sometimes a quar- 
ter of an inch of black border — but this friend had put 
on a gold border ; he did not put on black at all ; his 
mother had gone to the golden city, and so he put on a 
golden border ; and I think it a good deal better than 
black. I think when our friends die, instead of putting 
a great black border upon our memorials tomake them 
look dark, it would be better for us to put on gold. 

It is not death at all; it is life. Some one said to a 
person dying: " Well, you are in the land of the living 
yet." " No," said he, " I am in the land of the dying 
yet, but I am going to the land of the living ; they live 
there and never die." This is the land of sin and 
death and tears, but up yonder they never die. It is 
perpetual life ; it is unceasing joy. 

" It is a glorious thing to die," was the testimony 
of Hannah Moore on her death-bed, though her life 
had been sown thick with the rarest friendships, and age 
had not so weakened her memory as to cause her to 
forget those little hamlets among the cliffs of her na- 
tive hills, or the mission-schools she had with such 
perseverance established, and where she would be so 
sadly missed. 

As James Montgomery has said: 

" There is a soft, a dowDy bed; 

'Tis fair as breath of even; 
A couch for weary mortals spread, 
"Where they may rest the aching head, 

And find repose — in hea^ven \ 



34 HEAVEN. 



" There is an hour of peaceful rest, 

To mourning wanderers given. 
There is a joy for souls distressed, 
A balm for every wounded breast, 

'Tis found alone — in heaven! " 

KNOWING OUR FRIENDS. 

Many are, anxious to know if they will recognize their 
friends in heaven. In the 8th chapter of Matthew and 
the 11th verse, we read: "And I say unto you, that 
many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit 
down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the king- 
dom of heaven." 

Here we find that Abraham, who lived so many hun- 
dreds of years before Christ, had not lost his identity, 
and Christ tells us that the time is coming when they 
shall come from the east and west and shall sit down 
with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of 
God. These men had not lost their identity ; they were 
known as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And if you will 
turn to that wonderful scene that took place on the 
Mount of Transfiguration, you will find that Moses, 
who had been gone from the earth 1,500 years, was 
there ; Peter, James and John saw him on the Mount 
of Transfiguration; they saw him as Moses; he had 
not lost his name. Christ says of him that overcometh, 
" I will not blot your names out of the Lamb's Book of 
Life." We have names in heaven; we are going to 
bear our names there ; we will be known. 

Over in the Psalms it says: "jL shall be satisfied 
when I awake in Thy likeness.'/ That is enough. 
Want is written on every human heart down here, but 
there we shall be satisfied. You may hunt the world 



ITS INHABITANTS. 35 

from one end to the other, and you will not find a man 
or woman who is satisfied ; but in heaven we shall want 
for nothing. In the 2d chapter of the 1st Epistle of 
John, we read these words addressed to followers of 
Christ: 

" Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet ap- 
pear what we shall be; but we know that when He shall appear, we 
shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. 

" And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, 
even as He is pure." 

Moreover, it seems highly probable, indeed I think 
it is clearly taught by Scripture, that a great many 
careless Christians will get into heaven. There will be 
a great many who will get in ^'by the skin of their 
teeth," or as Lot was saved from Sodom, ''so as by 
fire." They will barely get in, but there will be no 
cro^vn of rejoicing. But everybody is not going to rush 
into heaven. There are a great many who will not be 
there. You know we have a class of people who tell 
us they are going into the kingdom of God whether 
they are converted or not. They tell us that they are 
on their way ; that they are going there. They tell us 
all are going there ; that the good, the bad and indif- 
ferent are all going into the kingdom, and that they 
will all be there ; that there is no difference ; and, in 
other words — if I may be allowed to use plain language 
— they give God the lie. 

But they say, " We believe in the mercy of God;" 
so do I. I believe in the justice of God, too; and I 
think heaven would be a good deal worse than this 
earth if unrenewed men were permitted to form part 
of it. 



36 HEAVEN: 



Why, if a man should live forever in this world in 
sin, what would become of this world? It seems as if 
it would be hell itself. Let your mind pass over the 
history of this country, and think of some who have 
lived in it. Suppose they should never die ; suppose 
they should live on and on forever in sin and rebellion ; 
do you think that God is going to take those men who 
have rejected His Son, who have spurned the offer of 
His mercy, who have refused salvation, and have 
trampled His law under their feet, and have been in 
rebellion against His laws down here? Do you sup- 
pose God is going to take them right into His King- 
dom and let them live there forever ? By no means. 

NO DEUNKARDS IN HEAVEN.i 

" Be not deceived * * * nor thieves, nor covetous, 
nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall in- 
herit the kingdom of God." 

" No drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of God." 
Now let those mothers who have sons who are just com- 
mencing a dissipated life, wake up ; and rest not day 
nor night u.ntil their boys are converted by the power 
of God's grace, because no drunkard shall inherit the 
kingdom of God. Many of these moderate drinkers 
will become drunkards ; no man ever became a drunk- 
ard all at once. How the devil blinds these moderate 
drinkers ! I do not know of any sin more binding than 
the sin of intemperance ; the man is bound hand and 
foot before he knows it. 

I was reading some time ago an account of snake- 
worshiping in India. I thought it was a horrible 
"thing. I read of a mother who saw a snake come into 



tfS INHABITANTS, 3? 

her home and coil itself around her little infant only 
six months old, and she thought the reptile was such a 
sacred thing that she did not dare to touch it; and she 
saw the snake destroy her child; she heard the child's 
pitiful cries, but dared not rescue it. My soul revolted 
as I read the narrative. But I do not know but we 
have things right here in America that are just as bad 
as that serpent in India — serpents that are coming into 
many a Christian home, and coiling around many a 
son and binding them hand and foot, and the fathers 
and mothers seem to be asleep. 

Oh, may the Spirit of God wake us up! No drunk- 
ard shall inherit the kingdom of God; nor rum-seller 
either. Bear that in mind. " Woe unto him that put- 
teth the bottle to his neighbor's lips." I pity any pro- 
fessing Christians who rent their property for drink- 
ing saloons; I pity them from the depths of my 
heart. If you ever expect to inherit the kingdom of 
God, give it up. If you can never rent your property 
to better purposes you had better let it stand empty. 
This idea that all is going well, and that all are going 
into the kingdom of God, whether they repent or not, 
is not taught anywhere in the Scripture. 

There will be no extortioners in heaven ; none of those 
men who are taking advantage of their brothers; of 
those men who have been unfortunate ; whose families 
are sick ; who have had to mortgage their property, and 
had snap-judgment taken against them by some man 
who has his hand at their throats, and takes every cent 
that he can get. That man is an extortioner. He 
shall not inherit the kingdom of God. I pity a man 
who gets money dishonestly. See the trouble he has 



g8 HEAVEN: 

to keep it. It is sure to be scattered. If you got it 
dishonestly you cannot keep it; your children can't 
keep it — they have not the power. You see that all 
over the country. A man who gets a dollar dishon- 
estly, had better make restitution and pay it back very 
quickly, or it will burn in his pocket. 

SOME WILL NOT GET IN. 

In the days of Noah we read that he sailed over the 
deluge. He was the only righteous man, but accord- 
ing to the theory of some people, the rest of those men 
who were so foul and so wicked — too wicked to live — 
God took them and swept them all into heaven, and left 
the only righteous man to go through this trial. 
Drunkards, and thieves and vagabonds all went to 
heaven, they say. You might as well go forward and 
preach that "you can swear as much as you like, and 
murder as much as you please, and it will come out 
right — that God will forgive you; God is so merciful." 

Suppose the Governor of a State should pardon ev- 
ery person that the courts ever convicted, and are now 
lying in its jails and penitentiaries ; suppose he should 
let them all loose because he is so merciful that he 
could not bear to have men punished ; I think he would 
not be Governor of that State long. These men who 
are talking about God being so full of mercy, that He 
is going to spare, and take all men to heaven, would 
be the very men to say that such a Governor as that 
ought to be impeached — that he ought not to be Gov- 
ernor. Let us bear in mind that the Scripture says 
there is a certain class of people who " shall not in- 
herit the kingdom of GocV Now, I will give you the 



iTS INHABITANTS. 3^ 

Scripture ; it is a good deal better to just give the Scrip- 
ture for these things, and then if you do not like it you 
can quarrel with Scripture, and not with me. Let no 
man say that I have been saying who is going to 
heaven and who is not; I will let the Scripture speak 
for itself : "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall 
not inherit the kingdom of God?" I Cor. vi, 9. 

But the unrighteous — the adulterers, the fornicators 
and thieves — these men may all inherit it if they will 
only turn away from their sins. " Let the wicked for- 
sake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts ; " 
but if the unrighteous man says: " I will not turn away 
from sin; I will hold on to sin and have heaven," he is 
deceiving himself. 

A man who steals my pocket-book loses a good deal 
more than I do. I can afford to let him have my pocket- 
book a great deal better than he can afford to take it. 
See how much that man who steals my pocket-book 
loses. Perhaps he may get a few dollars; or he may 
steal my coat ; but he does not get much. See how 
much he has lost. Take an inventory of what that 
man loses if he loses heaven. Think of it. No thief 
shall inherit the kingdom of God. To any thief I 
would say: " Steal no more." Let him ask God to for- 
give him ; let him repent of his sin and turn to God. 
If you get eternal life it is worth more than the whole 
world. If you were to steal the whole world, you 
would not get much, after all. The whole world does 
not amount to much, if you have not eternal life with 
it, to enjoy yourself in the future. 



W^e &Y^\re-^oi)el gainf^. 



BY ANNA SHIPTON. 

Who are they whose songs are sounding 
O'er the golden harps above? 

Hark! they tell of grace abounding, 
And Jehovah's sovereign ]oyq. 

Who are they that keep their station 
Round the great eternal throne? 

They from earthly tribulation 
To their heavenly rest are gone. 

See their robes of dazzling whiteness, 
Without blemish, spot, or stain; 

See their crowns that grow in brightness, 
Purchased by the Lamb once slain. 

Never heat shall beat upon them. 
Thirst nor hunger reach them there; 

He, whose life from death hath won them, 
Bids them now His glory share. 

Feeble hearts are nerved for duty. 
Faltering feet now firmly stand. 

Palms of heaven's unfading beauty 
Mark earth's once despised band. 

'Tis the Lamb of God who leads them. 
And they serve Him night and day; 

By the heavenly fount He feeds them, 
He hath wiped their tears away. 

Sweet their theme ! 'Tis still, *' Salvation 

Unto Christ, the Holy One! " 
And their sighs of tribulation 

Change to songs around the throne. 



40 



ITS HAPPINESS. 



41 



"©yftafl eKFmox^f (Horr^e?'' 



"What! almost home? " *' Yes, almost home," she said, 
And light seemed gleammg on her aged head. 

" Jesus is very precious! " Those who near 
Her bedside stood were thrilled those words to hear. 

" Toward His blest home I tarn my willing feet; 
Hinder me not; I go my Lord to meet.' 
Silence ensued. She seemed to pass away, 
Serene and quiet as that summer day. 

" Speak," cried through tears her dau^ter, bending low, 

" One word, beloved mother, ere you go." 
She spoke that word; the last she spoke on earth, 
In whispering tones — that word of wondrous worth: 

" JESUS! " The sorrowing hsteners caught the sound, 
But angels heard it with a joy profound. 
Back, at its mighty power, the gates unfold — 
The gates of pearl that guard the streets of gold. 
The harpers with their harps took up the strain, 
And sang the triumph of the Lord again. 
As through the open portals entered in 
Another soul redeemed from death and sin. 
And as from earth the spirit passed away, 
To dwell forever in the realms of day. 
Those who were left to mourn could almost hear 
The strains of heavenly music strike the ear. 
And to their longing eyes by grace was given. 
In such a scene, as 'twere, a glimpse of heaven. 

— Unknown. 



trs HAPPINESS. 4§ 



CHAPTEE III. 

ITS HAPPINESS 



Eye hath not seen, ndr ear heard, neither hath it entered into the 
heart ot man, the things which God hath prepared for them that 
love him. Isaiah Ixiv, 4 I Cor. ii, 9. 

I£ there is one word above another that will swing 
open the eternal gates, it is the name of Jesus. There 
are a great many pass-words and by- words down here, 
but that will be the countersign up above. Jesus Christ 
is the '' Open Sesame " to heaven. Any one who tries 
to climb up some other way, is a thief and a robber. 
But when we get in, what a joy above every other joy 
we can think of, will it be to see Jesus Himself all the 
time, -and to be with Him continually. 

Isaiah has given this promise of God to every one 
who is saved through faith: "Thine eyes shall see the 
King in His beauty; they shall behold the land that is 
very far off." Some of us may not be able to go 
around the world. We may not be able to see any of 
the foreign countries; but every Christian by and by 
is going to see a land that is very far off. This is our 
Promised Land. John Milton says of the saints who 
have gone already: 

"They walk with God 
High in salvation, and the cHmes of bHss." 



44 REAVEi^: 



It is a blissful climate up there. People down here 
look around a great deal to find a good climate where 
they will not be troubled by any of their pains or aches, 
but the climate of heaven is so fine that no pains 
or aches can hold out against it. There will be no 
room to find fault. AVe shall leave all our pains and aches 
behind us, and find an everlasting health, such as earth 
can never know. 

But you know the glory of Christ as reigning King 
of heaven would be something too much for mortal 
eyes to endure. In 1st Timothy, vi, we read of Christ as : 

" The blessed and only Potentate, the King of Kings, and Lord of 
Lords; Who only hath immortahty, dwelling in the light which no 
man can approach into; Whom no man hath seen nor can see." 

As mortals, we cannot see that light. Our feeble 
faculties would be dazzled before such a blaze of glory. 

In Ezekiel i, 28, we read of that prophet having a 
faint glimpse of it: 

** As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of 
rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This 
was the appearance of the Hkeness of the glory of the Lord^ And 
when I saw it, I fell upon my face." 

"VVe are amazed at ordinary perfections now. None 
of us can look the sun squarely in the face. But when 
this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, as 
Paul says, the power of the soul will be stronger. 
We shall be able to see Christ in His glory then. 
Though the moon be confounded and the sun ashamed, 
yet we shall see Him as He is. This is what will make 
heaven so happy. We all know that great happiness 
cannot be found on earth. Keason, revelation, and the 
experience of six thousand years, all tell us that. No 



ITS HAPPINESS. 45 



human creature has the power to give it. Even doing 
good fails to give it fully, for, owing to sin in the 
world, even the best have not perfect happiness here. 
They have to wait for heaven; although they may be 
so near it sometimes that they can see heralds of its joy 
and beauty, as Columbus saw the strange and beautiful 
birds hovering around his ships long before he caught 
sight of America. 

All the joys we are to know in heaven will come from 
the presence of God. This is the leading thought in 
all that the Scripture has to say on the subject. What 
life on this earth is without health, life in heaven 
would be without the presence of God. God's pres- 
ence Avill be the very light and life of the place. It is 
said that one translation of the words describing the 
presence o£ God is "a happy making sight." It will 
be a sight like the return of a long-lost boy to his 
mother, or the first glimpse of your home after you 
have been a long time away. Some of you know how 
a little sunshine on a dark day, or the face of a kind 
friend in trouble, often cheers us up. Well, it will be 
something like that, only a thousand times better. Our 
preceptions of God will be clearer then, and that will 
make us love Him all the more. 

The more we know God, the more we love Him. A 
great many of us would love God more if we only be- 
came better acquainted with Him. While on earth it 
gives Christians great pleasure to think of the perfec- 
tion of Jesus Christ, but how will it be when we see 
Him as He i^? 



46 HEAVEN: 

WE SHALL BE LIKE CHKIST. 

Some one once asked a Christian what he expected 
to do when he got to heaven ? He said he expected to 
spend the first thousand years looking at Jesus Christ, 
and after that he would look for Peter, and then for 
James, and for John, and all the time he could con- 
ceive of would be joyfully filled with looking upon 
these great persons. But it seems to me that one look 
at Jesus Christ will more than reward us for all we 
have ever done for Him down here; for all the sacri- 
fices we can possibly make for Him, just to see Him; 
only to see Him. But we shall become like Him when 
we once have seen Him, because we shall hjave His 
Spirit. Jesus, the Savior of the world, will be there, 
and we shall see Him face to face. 

It will not be the pearly gates; nor the jasper 
walls, or the streets paved Avith transparent gold, that 
will make it heaven to us. These would not satisfy us. 
If these were all, we would not want to stay there for- 
ever. I heard of a child whose mother was very sick; 
and while she lay very low, one of the neighbors took 
the child away to stay with her until the mother should 
be well again. But instead of getting better, the 
mother died; and they thought they would not take the 
child home until the funeral was all over ; and would 
never tell her about her mother being dead. So a while 
afterward they brought the little girl home. First she 
went into the sitting-room to find her mother; then she 
went into the parlor, to find her mother there ; and she 
went from one end of the house to the other, and could 
not find her. At last she said, " AVhere is my mamma ? " 
And when they told her her mamma was gone, the little 



Tf^^S' HAPPINESS. 47 



thing wanted to go back to the neighbor's house again. 
Home had lost its attraction to her since her mother 
was not there any longer. No ; it will not be the jasper 
walls and the pearly gates that will make heaven at- 
tractive. It is our being with God. We shall be in 
the presence of the Redeemer ; we shall be forever with 
the Lord. 

There was a time when I used to think more of 
Jesus Christ than I did of the Father; Christ seemed 
to be so much nearer to me because He had become 
the* Days Man between me and God. In my imagina- 
tion I put God away on the throne as a stern judge, 
but Christ had come in as the mediator, and it seemed 
as if Christ was much nearer to me than God, the 
Father. I got over that years ago, when God gave 
me a son, and for ten years I had an only son, and as I 
looked at the child as he grew up, the thought came to 
me that it took more love for God to give up His Son 
than it did for His Son to 'die. Think of the love that 
God had for this w^orld when He gave Christ up ! 

If you will turn to Acts vii, 55, you will find that 
when Stephen was being stoned he lifted up his eyes, 
and it seemed as if God rolled back the curtain of time 
and allowed him to look into the eternal city, and' see 
Christ standing at the right hand of God. When 
Jesus Christ went on high He led captivity captive, and 
took His seat, for His work was done ; but when Ste- 
phen saw Him He was standing up, and I can imagine 
He saw that martyr fighting, as it were, single-handed 
and alone, the first martyr, though many were to come 
after him. You can hear the tramp of the millions 
coming after him, to lay down their lives for the Son 



48 HEAVEN: 



of God. But Stephen led the van; he was the first 
martyr, and as he was dying for the Lord Jesus Christ 
he looked up; Christ was standing to give him a 
welcome, and the Holy Ghost came down to bear wit- 
ness that Christ was there. How then can we doubt it? 

A beggar does not enjoy looking at a palace. The 
grandeur of its architecture is lost upon him. Looking 
upon a royal banquet does not satisfy the hunger of a 
starving man. But seeing heaven is also having a share 
in it There would be no joy there if we did not feel 
that some of it was ours. God unites the soul to Him- 
self. We read in II Peter that we are made partakers 
of the divine nature. Now if you put a piece of iron 
in the fire, it very soon loses its dark color, and becomes 
red and hot like the fire, but it does not lose its iron 
nature. So the soul becomes bright Avith God's bright- 
ness, beautiful with God's beauty, pure with God's 
purity, and warm with the glow of His perfect love, and 
yet remains a human soul. * We shall be like Him, but 
remain ourselves. 

There is a fable that a kind-hearted king was once 
hunting in a forest, and found a blind orphan boy, who 
was living almost like a beast. The king was touched 
with pity, and adopted the boy as his own, and had 
him taught all that can be learned by one who is blind. 
When he reached his twenty-first year, the king, who 
was also a great physician, restored the youth his sight, 
and took him to his palace, where, surrounded by his 
nobles and all the majesty and magnificence of his 
court, he proclaimed him one of his sons, and com- 
manded all to give him their honor and love. The 
9^90 friendless orphan thus became a prince auci a 



ITS HAPPINESS, 49 



sharer in the royal dignity, and of all the happiness 
and glory to be found in the palace of a king. Who 
can tell the joy that overwhelmed the soul of that young 
man when he first saw the king, of whose beauty and 
goodness and power he had heard so much ? Who can 
tell the happiness he must have felt when he saw his 
own princely attire, and found himself adopted into the 
royal family — honored and beloved by all ? 

Now Christ is the great and mighty King who finds 
our souls in the wilderness of this sinful world. He 
finds us, as we read in the 3d chapter of Revelation, 
" wretched and miserable, and poor and blind and 
naked." We read in the 1st chapter of the same book. 
He ''washed us from our sins in His own blood;" and 
again, in the 61st chapter of Isaiah, He has clothed us 
with a spotless robe of innocence, " with the garments 
of salvation;" He has covered us "with a robe of 
righteousness as a bridegroom decketh himself with 
ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with 
jewels." 

The mission of the Gospel to sinners, as we find it 
in the 26tli chapter of Acts, was, "to open their eyes, 
and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the 
power of Satan unto God, that they may receive for- 
giveness of sins and inheritance among them which are 
sanctified by faith that is in Me." This is what Christ 
has done for every Christian. He has adorned you 
with the gift of grace, and adopted you as His child, 
and as it says in the 3d chapter of I Corinthians : 

"All things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or 
the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come — 
all are yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's." 
4 



50 HEAVEN, 



He has given yon His own Word to edncate you for 
heaven ; He has opened your eyes so that now you see. 
By His grace and your own co-operation your soul is 
being gradually developed into a more perfect resem- 
blance to Him. 

Finally, your Heavenly Father calls you home, 
where you will see the angels and saints clothed with 
the beauty of Christ Himself, standing around His 
throne, and hearing the word that will admit you into 
their society, "Well done, thou good and faithful serv- 
ant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." In tho 
16th chapter of John, Christ Himself says: " All things 
that the Father hath are Mine ; therefore, said I, that 
He shall take of Mine, and shall show it unto you." 
All will be yours. Ah, how poor and mean do earthly 
pleasures seem by comparison. How true those lines 
of a Scotch poet: 

" The world can never give 

The bliss for which we sigh; 
'Tis not the whole of life to live, 

Nor all of death to die. 
Beyond this vale of tears 

There is a life above, 
Unmeasured by the flight of years, 
And all that life is love." 

OVER THE RIVER. 

There is joy in heaven, we are told, over the conver- 
sions that take place on earth. In Luke xv, 7, Ave 
read: " I say unto you that likewise joy shall be in 
heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over 
ninety-and-nine just persons which need no repent- 
ance." When there is going to be an election for 
President of the United States, there is tremendous 



ITS HAPPINESS, 51 



excitement — a great commotion. There is probably not 
a paper from Maine to California that would not have 
something on nearly every page about the candidate; 
the whole country is excited ; but I doubt if it would be 
noticed in heaven. If Queen Victoria should leave her 
throne, there would be great excitement throughout the 
nations of the earth ; the whole world would be inter- 
ested in the event; it would be telegraphed around the 
world; but it would probably be overlooked altogether 
in heaven. Yet if one little boy or girl, one man or 
one woman, should repent of their sins, this day and 
hour that would be noticed in heaven. They look at 
things differently up there ; things that look very large 
to us, look very small in heaven; and things that seem 
very small to us down here, may be very great up yon- 
der. Think of it! By an act of our own, we may 
cause joy in heaven. The thought seems almost too 
wonderful to understand. To think that the poorest 
sinner on earth, by an act of his own, can send a thrill 
of joy through the hosts of heaven! 

The Bible says: "There is joy in the presence of 
the angels," not that the angels rejoice, but it is " in 
the presence " of the angels. I have studied over that 
a great deal, and often wondered what it meant. " Joy 
in the presence of the angels ? " Now, it is speculation ; 
I admit it may be true, or it may not ; but perhaps the 
friends who have left the shores of time — they who 
have gone within the fold — may be looking do^vn upon 
us ; and when they see one they prayed for while on 
earth repenting and turning to God, it sends a thrill of 
joy to their very hearts. Even now, some mother who 
has gone up yonder may be looking down upon a son 



52 HEAVEN: 



or daughter, and i£ that child should say: "I will meet 
that mother of mine ; I will repent ; yes, I am going to 
join you, mother," the news, with the speed of a 
sunbeam, reaches heaven, and that mother may then 
rejoice, as we read, "In the presence of the angels." 

In Dublin, after one of the meetings, a man walked 
into the inquiry room with his daughter, his only one, 
whose mother had died some time before, and he 
prayed: " O God, let this truth go deep into my daugh- 
ter's heart, and grant that the prayers of her mother 
may be answered to-day — that she may be saved." As 
they rose up she put her arms about his neck and kissed 
him, and said: ''I want to meet my mother; I want to 
be a Christian." That day she accepted Christ. That 
man is now a minister in Texas. The daughter died 
out there a little while ago, and is now with her mother 
in heaven. What a blessed and joyful meeting it must 
have been! It may be a sister, it may be a brother, 
who is beckoning you over — 

" Over the river they beckon to me, 

Loved ones who've crossed to the farther side; 
The gleam of their snowy robes I see, 

But their voices are drowned in the rushing tide. 
There's one with ringlets of sunny gold. 

And eyes, the reflection of heaven's own blue; 
He crossed in the twilight gray and cold, 

And the pale mist hid him from mortal view. 
We saw not the angels who met him there, 

The gates of the city we could not see; 
Over the river, over the river, 

My brother stands waiting to welcome me." 

Whoever you are, do not delay. 

The story is told of a father who had his little daugh- 
ter out late in the evening. The night was dark, and 



ITS HAPPINESS. 53 



they had passed through a thick wood to the brink o£ 
a river. Far away on the opposite shore a light twinkled 
here and there in the few scattered houses, and still 
farther off blazed the bright lights of the great city to 
which they were going. The little child was weary 
and sleepy, and the father held her in his arms while 
he waited for the ferryman, who was at the other side. 
At length they saw a little light; nearer and nearer 
came the sound of the oars, and soon they were safe in 
the boat. 

'' Father," said the little girl. 

"Well, my child?" 

" It's very dark, and I can't see the shore; where are 
we going?" \/ 

"The ferryman knows the way, little one; we will 
soon be over." 

" O, I wish we were there, father." 

Soon in her home loving arms welcomed her, and her 
fears and her tremor were gone. Some months pass by, 
and this same little child stands on the brink of a river 
that is darker and deeper, more terrible still. It is the 
River of Death. The same loving father stands near 
her, distressed that his child must cross this river and 
he not be able to go with her. For days and for nights 
he and her mother have been watching over her, leav- 
ing her bedside only long enough for their meals, and 
to pray for the life of their precious one. For hours 
she has been slumbering, and it seems as if her spirit 
must pass away without her waking again, but just be- 
fore the morning watch she suddenly awakes with the 
eye bright, the reason unclouded, and every faculty 
alive. A sweet smile is playing upon her face. 



^1 



54 IIEAVEN: 



" Father," she says, ''I have come again to the river 
side, and am again waiting for the ferryman to come 
and take me across." 

"Does it seem as dark and cold as when you went 
over the other river, my child?" 

"O no! There is no darkness here. The river is 
covered with floating silver. The boat coming toward 
me seems made of solid light, and I am not afraid of 
the ferryman." 

'' Can you see over the river, my darling? " 

" O yes, there is a great and beautiful city there, 
all filled with light; and I hear music such as the an- 
gels make! " 

" Do you see any one on the other side?" 

"Why yes, yes, I see the most beautiful form; and 
He beckons me now to come. Oh, ferryman, make 
haste ! I know who it is ! It is Jesus ; my own blessed 
Jesus. I shall be caught in His arms. I shall rest 
on His bosom — I come — I come." 

And thus she crossed over the River of Death, made 
like a silver stream by the presence of the blessed 
Redeemer. 

SOMETHING MORE. 

There is hardly an unconverted man anywhere, no 
matter how high up or how rich he may be, but will 
tell you, if you get his confidence, that he is not happy. 
There is something he wants that he cannot get, or 
there is something he has that he wants to get rid of. It 
is very doubtful if the Czar of all the Russias is a 
happy man, and yet he has about all he can get. Al- 
though Queen Victoria has palaces, and millions at her 



ITS HAPPINESS. 55 



command, and has besides what most sovereigns lack, 
the love or her subjects, it is a question whether she 
gets much pleasure out of her position. If kings and 
queens love the Jesus Christ and are saved, then they 
may be happy. If they know they will reach heaven 
like the humblest of their subjects, then they may rest 
secure. Paul, the humble tent-maker, will have a 
higher seat in heaven than the best and greatest sov- 
ereign that ever ruled the earth. If the Czar should 
meet John Bunyan, the poor tinker, up in heaven, he 
no doubt would find him the greater man. 

The Christian life is the only happy one. Without 
it something is always wanting. AVhen we are young 
we have grand enterprises, but we soon spoil them by 
being too rash. AVe want experience. When we get 
old we have the experience, but then all the power to 
carry out our schemes is gone. " Happy is that people 
whose God is the Lord." The only way to be happy is 
to be good. The man who steals from necessity sins 
because he is afraid of being unhappy, but for the 
moment he forgets all about how unhappy the sin is 
going to make him. Bad as he is, man is the best and 
noblest thing on earth, and it is easy to understand how 
he fails to find true happiness in anything lower than 
himself. The only object better than ourselves is God, 
aud He is all we can ever be satisfied with. Gold, that 
is mere dross dug up out of the earth, does not satisfy 
man. Neither do the honor and praise of other men. 
The human soul wants something more than that. 
Heaven is the only place to get it. No wonder that 
the angels who see God all the time are so happy. 

The publicans went to hunt up John the Baptist in 



56 BE AVE N: 



the wilderness, to know what they should do. Some of 
the highest men in the land went to consult the hermit 
to know how to get happiness. " Whosoever trusteth 
in the Lord, happy is he." It is because there is no 
real happiness down here, that earth is not worth liv- 
ing for. It is because it is all above, that heaven is 
worth dying for. In heaven there is all life and no 
death. In hell there is all death and no life. Here 
on earth there is both living and dying, which is be- 
tween the two. If we are dead to sin here we will live 
in heaven, and if we live in sin here we must expect 
eternal death to follow. 

Do you know that every Christian dies twice ? He 
first becomes spiritually dead to sin — that is the re- 
newed soul. He then begins to feel the joy of heaven. 
The joys of heaven reach down to earth as many and as 
sure as the rays of the sun. Then comes physical 
death, which makes way for the physical heaven. Of 
course the old sinful body has to be changed. We can- 
not take that into heaven. It will be a glorified body 
that we will get at the resurrection, not a sinful body. 
Our bodies will be transfigured like Christ's. 

There will be no temptation in heaven. If there 
were no temptation in the world now, God could not 
prove us. He wants to see if we are loyal. That is 
why He put the forbidden tree in Paradise ; that ac- 
counts for the presence of the Canaanite in the land of 
Israel. When we plant a seed, after a time it disap- 
pears and brings forth a seed that looks much the same, 
but still it is a different seed. So our bodies and the 
bodies of those we know and love will be raised up, 
looking much the same — but still not all the same. 



ITS HAPPINESS. 57 



Christ took the same body into heaven that was cruci- 
fied on the cross, unless He was transformed in the 
cloud after the disciples lost sight of Him. There 
must have been some change in the appearance of 
Christ after His resurrection, for Mary Magdalene, 
who was the first one who saw Him did not know Him, 
neither did the disciples, who walked and talked with 
Him about Himself, and did not recognize Him until 
He began to ask a blessing at supper. Even Peter 
did not know Him when He appeared on the sea-shore. 
Thomas would not believe it was Christ until he saw 
the prints of the nails and the wound in His side. But 
we shall all know Him in heaven. 

There are two things that the Bible makes as clear 
and certain as eternity. One is that we are going to 
see Christ, and the other that we are going to be like 
Him. God will never hide His face from us there, 
and Satan will never show his. 

There is not such a great difference between grace 
and glory after all. Grace is the bud, and glory the 
blossom. Grace is glory begun, and glory is grace 
perfected. It will not come hard to people who are 
serving God down here to do it when they go up yon- 
der. They will change places, but they will not 
change employments. 

HIGHEE UP. 

The moment a person becomes heavenly-minded and 
gets his heart and affections set on things above, then 
life becomes beautiful, the light of heaven shines 
across his pathway, and he does not have to be all the 
time lashing and upbraiding himself because he is not 



S8 HEAVEN: 



more like Christ. Some one asked a Scotchman if he 
was on the way to heaven, and he said: " Why man, I 
live there; I am not on the way." That is just it. 
We want to live in heaven; while we are walking in 
this world it is our privilege to have our hearts and 
affections there. I once heard Mr. Morehouse tell a 
story about a lady in London who found one of those 
poor, bed-ridden saints, and then she found a wealthy 
woman who was all the time complaining and murmur- 
ing at her lot. Sometimes I think people whom God does 
the most for in worldly things think the less of Him and 
care less about Him, and are the most unproductive in 
His service. But this lady went around as a mission- 
ary visiting the poor, and she used to go and visit this 
poor, bed-ridden saint, and she said if she wanted to 
get cheered up and her heart made happy she would 
go and visit her. [There is a place in Chicago, and 
has been for years, where a great many Christians have 
always gone when they want to get their faith strength- 
ened ; they go there and visit one of these saints. And 
a friend told me that she thought that the Lord kept 
one of those saints in most of the cities to entertain 
angels as they passed over the cities on errands of 
mercy, for it seems that these saints are often visited 
by the heavenly host. ] Well, this lady missionary had 
wanted to get this wealthy woman in contact with this 
saint, and she invited her to go a number of times; 
and finally the lady consented to go, and when she got 
to the place, she went up the first flight of stairs, and 
it was not very clean, and was dark. 

" What a horrible place," tho lady said; '' why did 
you bring me here ? " 



ITS HAPPINESS. 59 



The lady smiled and said: " It is better higher up." 

And then they went up another flight, and it didn't 

grow any lighter, and she complained again, and the 

lady said, " It is better higher up." And then they 

went up another flight, and it was no lighter ; still the 

missionary kept saying, " It is better higher up." And 

when they got to the fifth story they opened the door, 

and entered a beautiful room, a room that was carpeted, 

with plants in the window, and a little bird was in a cage 

singing, and there was that saint just smiling, and the 

first thing the complaining woman had to say to her was : 

" It must be very hard for you to be here and suffer." 

" Oh, that is a yery small thing; it isnot very hard," 

she said, "it is better higher up." 

And so if things do not go just right, if they do not 
go to suit us here, we can say, " It is better higher up, 
it is better further on," and we can lift up our hearts 
and rejoice as we journey on toward home. 
You know those beautiful lines — 

" Beyond the smiling and the weeping, 

I shall be soon; 
Beyond the waking and the sleeping, 
Beyond the sowing and the reaping, 

I shall be soon. 
Love, rest, and home ! 

Sweet Home! 
Lord, tarry not, but come. 

" Beyond the rising and the setting, 

I shall be soon; 
Beyond the calming and the fretting, 
Beyond remembering and forgettiag, 

I shall be soon. 
Love, rest, and home! 

Sweet Hope! 
Lord, tarry not, but come." 



BY ANNA SHIPTON. 

Nearer and nearer, day by day, the distant voices come ; 

Soft through the pearly gate they swell, and seem to call me home. 

The lamp of life burns faint and low; ay, let it fainter burn; 

For who would weep the failing lamp when birds announce the morn ? 

I saw the faces of my loved gleam through the twilight dim, 

And softly on the morning air arose the heaven-born hymn; 

With looks of love they gazed on me, as none gaze on me now; 

The glory of the Infinite surrounded every brow. 

Fair lilies, star-like in their bloom, and waving palms they bore. 

And oh, the smiles of peace and joy those heavenly faces wore! 

Thou who hast fathomed death's dark tide, save me from death's 

alarms ; 
Beneath my trembling soul, oh, stretch Thine everlasting arms ! 
No second cross, no thorny crown can bruise Thy sacred brow; 
Thou who the wine-press trod alone, o'er the dark waves bear me 

now. 
A parting hour, a pang of pain, and then shall pass away 
The veil that shrouds Thee where Thou reign' st in everlasting day. 
No sin, no sigh, no withering fear, can wring the bosom there; 
But basking in Thy smile I shall Thy sinless service share. 
How long, O Lord, how long before Thou'lt take me by the hand. 
And I, Thy weakest child, at last among Thy children stand? 
Beyond the stars that steadfast shine my spirit pines to soar, 
To dwell within my Father's house, and leave that home no more. 
O Lord, Thou hast with angel food my fainting spirit fed; 
If 'tis Thy will I linger here, bless Thou the path I tread; 
And though my soul doth pant to pass within the pearly gate, 
Yet teach me for Thy summons. Lord, in patience still to wait. 



60 



ITS CERTAINTY. 



a. 



(# 3^1 ae ia \fie big^t of S^o(\. 



I shine in the light of God; 

His likeness stamps my brow; 
Through the Valley of Death my feet have trod, 

And I reign in glory now! 

No breaking heart is here, 

No keen and thrilling pain, 
No wasted cheek where the frequent tear 

Hath rolled and left its stain. 

O friends of mortal years, 

The trusted and the true. 
Ye are watching still in the valley of tears, 

But I wait to welcome you. 

Do I forget? O no! 

For memory's golden chain 
Shall bind my heart to the hearts below 

Till they meet to touch again. 

Each link is strong and bright, 

And love's electric flame 
Flows freely down, like a river of light, 

To the world from whence I came. 

Do you mourn when another star 

Shines out from the glittering sky? 
Do you weep when the raging voice of war 

And the storms of conflict die? 

Then why should your tears run down, 

And your hearts be sorely riven, 
For another gem in the Savior's crown, 

And another soul in heaven? 

— Fkom an EN:iLisii Fkiend. 



62 



ITS CERTAINTY. 63 



CHAPTER IV. 

ITS CERTAINTY. 



In My Father's house are many mansions I go to 

prepare a place for you. John xiv, 2. 

There are some people who depend so much upon 
their reason that they reason away God. They say God 
is not a person we can ever see. They say God is a 
Spirit. So He is, but He is a person too ; and became 
a man and walked the earth once. Scripture tells us 
very plainly that God has a dwelling-place. There is 
no doubt whatever about that. A dwelling-place indi- 
cates personality. God's dwelling-place is in heaven. 
He has a dwelling-place, and we are going to be in- 
mates of it. Therefore we shall see Him. 

In I Kings, viii, 30, we read: 

" And hearken Thou to the supplication of Thy servant, and of 
Thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place; and hear 
Thou in heaven Thy dwelling-place; and when Thou hearest, for- 
give." 

This idea that heaven is everywhere and nowhere is 
not according to Scripture. Heaven is God's habita- 
tion, and when Christ came on earth He taught us to 
pray: "Our Father, which art in heaven." This hab- 
itation is spoken of as " the city of eternal life." 
Think of a city without a cemetery — they have no dy- 
ing there. If thore could be such a city as that found 



64 HEAVEN: 



on this earth what a rush there would be to it! How 
men would try to reach that city! You cannot find one 
on the face of this earth. A city without tears — God 
wipes away all the tears up yonder. This is a time of 
weeping, but by-and-by there will be a time when God 
shall call us where there will be no tears. A city 
without pain, a city without sorrow, without sickness, 
without death. There is no darkness there. "The 
Lamb is the light thereof." It needs no sun, it needs 
no moon. The paradise of Eden was as nothing com- 
pared with this one. The tempter came into Eden and 
triumphed, but in that city nothing that defileth shall 
ever enter. There will be no tempter there. Think 
of a place where temptation cannot come. Think of a 
place where we shall be free from sin ; where pollution 
cannot enter, and where the righteous shall reign for- 
ever. Think of a city that is not built with hands, 
where the buildings do not grow old with time; a city 
whose inhabitants are numbered by no census, ex(^ept 
the Book of Life, which is the heavenly directory. 
Think of a city through whose streets runs no tide of 
business, where no hearses with their nodding plumes 
creep slowly with their sad burdens to the cemetery ; a 
city without griefs or graves, without sins or sorrows, 
without marriages or mournings, without births or 
burials; a city which glories in having Jesus for its 
King, angels for its guards, and whose citizens are 
saints ! 

We believe this is just as much a place and just as 
much a city as is New York, London or Paris. We 
believe in it a good deal more, because earthly cities 
will pass away, but this city will remain forever. It 



ITS CERTAINTY, 65 



has foundations whose bailder and maker is God. 
Some of the grandest cities the world has ever known 
have not had foundations strong enough to last. 

TYRE AND SIDON. 

Take for instance Tyre and Sidon. They Avere rival 
cities something like New York and Philadelphia, or 
St. Louis and Chicago. AVhen the patriarch Jacob 
gave his sons his blessing, he spoke of Sidon. In the 
splitting up of Canaan among the tribes of Israel by 
Joshua, Tyre and" Sidon seem to have fallen to the lot 
of Asher, though the old inhabitants were never fully 
driven out. We read in Mark: " Jesus withdrew Him- 
self with His disciples to the sea, and a great multitude 
from Galilee followed Him, and from Judea and from 
Jerusalem, and from Idumoea and from beyond Jordan ; 
and they about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, 
when they heard what things He did, came unto Him." 
AVe find in Acts xvii, 3, that the Captain of the guards 
who was taking Paul prisoner to appear before Caesar 
at Rome, when the ship touched at Sidon let Paul go 
and visit some of his friends there to refresh himself. 
From this it has been inferred that at that time there 
must have been a Christian church there, although the 
people generally worshiped the Queen of Heaven, who 
was represented as crowned with the crescent paoon. 

There are some persons now, you know, who adore 
a Queen of Heaven, whom they picture with the moon 
beneath her feet. Even the Hebrews, when they saw 
" the moon walking in brightness," along the clear 
skies of Palestine, impressed by its beauty, fell into the 
same idolatry. Jeremiah says: 



66 HEAVEN: 



*• The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and 
the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the Queen of 
Heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods." 

In answer to the prophet's reproof we find them say- 
ing, in the 44:th chapter, beginning at the 16th verse: 

" As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of 
the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee, but we will certainly do 
whatsoever thing goeth out of our own mouth, to burn incense 
unto the Queen of Heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto 
her, as we have done." 

Is it any wonder that a little farther on we should 

find addressed to them this language-: 

" The Lord could no longer bear, because of the evil of your do- 
ings, and because of the abominations which ye have committed; 
therefore is your land a desolation, and an astonishment, and a 
curse, without an inhabitant, as at this day." 

In the resurrection they neither marry nor are given 
in marriage, and there will be no '' Queen " in heaven. 

Tyre is mentioned by Joshua as '' a strong city," 

and both Isaiah and Ezekiel speak of it. In fact, there 

is a great deal in Scripture about it. Nebuchadnezzar, 

Alexandei the Great, and other kings have fought over 

it, and hosts of lives have been lost in taking Avhat is 

now a ruin. Alexander once destroyed it, but it was 

afterward rebuilt. We find in the inspired Word of 

God descriptions of what this city once was, from which 

we can form some idea of its beauty. The whole of 

the 27th chapter of Ezekiel is taken up with Tyrus, as 

it was called then: 

" O thou that art situate at the entry of the sea, which art a mer- 
chant of the people for many isles, thus saith the Lord God: O 
Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty. Thy borders are in 
the midst of the seas, thy builders have perfected thy beauty. They 
have made all thy ship boards of fir trees of Senir; they have taken 
cedars from Lebanoii to make masts for thee," 



ITS CERTAINTY. 67 



So it goes on : 

" Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was that which 
thou spreadest forth to be thy sail; blue and purple from the isles 
of Elishah was that which covered thee." 

A little farther on it says: 

" Thy riches, and thy fairs, thy merchandise, thy mariners, and 
thy pilots, thy calkers, and the occupiers of thy merchandise, and 
all thy men of war, that are in thee, and in all thy company which 
is in the midst of thee, shall fall into the midst of the seas in the 
day of thy ruin. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, 
thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of the brightness; I 
will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they 
may behold thee." 

The terrible prophesies of its downfall have all been 
literally fulfilled. We find them in the 26th chapter, 
beginning with the 3d verse: 

" Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I am against thee, O Tyrus, 
and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea 
causeth his waves to come up. And they shall destroy the walls of 
Tyrus, and break down her towers; I will also scrape her dust from 
her, and make her like the top of a rock. It shall be a place for 
the spreading of nests in the midst of the sea; for I have spoken it, 
saith the Lord God; and it shall become a spoil to the nations." 

Travelers now describe the site of Tyre as '' a heap 
of ruins, broken arches and vaults, tottering walls and 
towers, with a few starving \vretches housed amid the 
rubbish." A large part of it is under water, a portion 
of the ruins a place to spread nests upon, and the rest 
has become indeed " like the top of a rock." 

Thus passes away the glory of the world. This Book 
tells us of the glory of a city that we no longer see, 
but which has been. It tells us also of the glory of a 
greater City that we have not seen, but shall see if we 
but follow in the way. 



68 HEAVEN: 



" O happy harbor of God's saints ! 

O sweet and pleasant soil! 
In thee no sorrow can be found, 

Nor grief, nor care, nor toil. 
Thy gardens and thy goodly walks 

Continually are green, 
Where grow such sweet and pleasant flowers 

As nowhere else are seen. 
No candle needs, no moon to shine, 

No glittering star to light, 
For Christ, the King of Kighteousness, 

Forever shineth bright." 

OUE NAMEB EECOKDED THEEE. 

We are told that one time just before sunrise, two 
men got into a dispute about what part of the heavens 
the sun would first appear in. They became so excited 
over it that they began to fight, and beat each other 
over the head so badly that when the sun arose neither 
of them could see it. So there are persons who go on 
disputing about heaven until they dispute themselves 
out of it, and more who dispute over hell until they 
dispute themselves into it. 

The Hebrews in their writings tell us of three dis- 
tinct heavens. The air — the atmosphere about the earth 
— -is one heaven ; the firmament where the stars are is 
another, and above that is the heaven of heavens, where 
God's throne is, and the mansions of the Lord are — 
those mansions of light and peace which are the abode 
of the blessed, the homes of the Redeemer and the 
redeemed. 

This is the heaven where Christ is. This is the place 
we read of in Deuteronomy: '' Behold the heaven and 
the heaven of heavens is the Lord thy God's, the earth 
^Iso with all that therein is," 



ITS CERTAINTY. 6& 



In II Corintliiaiis, Paul, speaking of himself, says: 

" I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in 
the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell, 
God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven." 

Some people have wondered what the third heaven 
means. That is where God dwells, and where the 
storms do not come. There sits the incorruptible Judge. 
Paul, when he was caught up there, heard things that it 
was not lawful for him to utter, and he saw things that 
he could not speak of down here. The higher up we 
get in spiritual matters, the nearer we seem to heaven. 
There our wishes are fulfilled at last. We may cry out 
like the psalmist: 

*^ One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that 
I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to be- 
hold the beauty of the Lord, to inquire in His temple. 

We are assured by Christ Himself that our names 
will be written in heaven if we are only His. In the 
10th chapter of Luke and the 20th verse it reads: "Not- 
withstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are 
subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your 
names are written in heaven." A little while before 
these words were uttered by the Savior, calling to- 
gether seventy of His disciples, sent them forth in 
couples to preach the gospel in the cities of Galilee 
and Judea. There are people nowadays who have no 
faith in revivals. Yet the greatest revival ^the world 
ever saw was during the five or six years that John the 
Baptist and Jesus were preaching, followed by the 
preaching of the apostles and disciples after Christ left 
the earth. For years the country was stirred from one 
end to the other. There were probably men then who 



70 HEAVEN: 



stood out against the revival. They might have called it 
" spasmodic," and refused to believe in it. Perhaps 
they said, "It is a nine days' wonder and will pass 
away in a little while, and there will be nothing left of 
it." No doubt men talked in those days just as they 
talk now. All the way down from the time of Christ 
and His apostles there have been men Avho have op- 
posed the Vv'Ork of God, and some of them professing 
to be disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, all because it 
has not been done in their way. When the Spirit of 
God comes, He works in His own w^ay. We must learn 
the lesson that we are not to mark out any channels for 
Him to work in, for He will work in His own way when 
He comes. 

These disciples came back after their work. The 
Spirit had worked with them, and the devils were sub- 
ject to them, and they had power over disease, and they 
had power over the Enemy, and they were filled with 
success. They were probably having a sort of jubilee 
meeting, and Christ came in and said: ''Rejoice not 
that the spirits are subject unto you: but rather rejoice 
because your names are written in heaven." This 
brings us face to face with the doctrine of 

ASSURANCE. 

I find a great many people up and down Christendom 
who do not accept this doctrine. They believe it is 
impossible for us to know in this life whether we are 
saved or not. If this be true, how are we going to get 
over what Christ has said as we find it here recorded V 
If my name is written in heaven, how can I rejoice over 
it unless I know it ? These men were to rejoice that 



ITS CERTAINTY. 71 

their names were already there, and the name of each 
one who is a child of God his name is there, sent on 
for registry before. 

A party of Americans a few years ago, on their way 
from London to Liverpool, decided that they vv-ould 
stop at the Northwestern Hotel, but when they arrived 
they found the place had been full for several days. 
Greatly disappointed, they took up their baggage and 
were about starting off, when they noticed a lady of 
the party preparing to remain. 

" Are you not going, too? " they asked. 

" Oh no," she said, " I have good rooms all ready." 

" Why, how does that happen?" 

" Oh," she said, "I telegraphed on ahead, a few days 
ago." 

Now that is what the children of God are doing; 
they are sending their names on ahead; they are secur- 
ing places in the mansions of Christ in time. IE we 
are truly children of God our names have gone on be- 
fore, and there will be places awaiting us at the end of 
the journey. You know we are only travelers down 
here. We are away from home. When the war was 
going on, the soldiers on the battle-field, the Southern 
soldiers and the Northern soldiers, wanted nothing bet- 
ter to live in than tents. They longed for the war to 
close that they might go home. They cared nothing 
to have palaces and mansions on the battle-field. Well, 
there is a terrible battle going on now, and by-and-by, 
when the war is over, God Avill call us home. The tents 
are good enough for us while journeying through this 
world. It is only a night, and then the eternal day 
will dawn. 



*7S BEAVEM: 



THE BOOK OF LIFE. 

Two ladies met on a train not long ago, one of them 
going to Cairo and the other to New Orleans. Before 
they reached Cairo they had formed • a strong attach- 
ment for each other, and the Cairo lady said to the lady 
who was going to New Orleans: 

" I wish you would stay for a few days in Cairo; I 
would like to entertain you." 

'' Well," said the other, " I would like to very much, 
but I have packed up all my things and sent them ahead, 
and I haven't anything except what I have on, but 
they are good enough to travel in." 

I learned a lesson there. I said, " Almost anything is 
good enough to travel in, and it is a great deal better 
to have our joys and comforts ready for us in heaven, 
waiting until we get there, than to wear them out n 
our toilsome, trying, earthly journey." 

Heaven is the place of victory and triumph. This 
is the battle-field; there is the triumphal procession. 
This is the land of the sword and the spear ; that is 
the land of the wreath and the crown. Oh, what a 
thrill of joy will shoot through the hearts of all the 
blessed when their conquests will be made complete in 
heaven; when death itself, the last of foes, shall be 
slain, and Satan dragged as captive at the chariot 
wheels of Christ! Men may oppose as much as they 
will this doctrine of Assurance, nevertheless it is clearly 
taught in Scripture. 

THE OPENING OF THE BOOKS. 

A great many laugh at the idea of there being books 
in heaven; but in the 12th chapter of the prophecy 
of Daniel, and the 1st verse, we find: 



ifS CERTAINTY, to 



"And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which 
standeth for the children of thy people; and there shall be a time of 
trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that 
same time; and at that time the people shall be delivered, everyone 
that shall be found written in the book." 

There is a terrible time coming upon the earth ; darker 

days than we have ever seen, and they whose names 

are written in the Book of Life shall be delivered. Then 

again, in Philippians iv, 3, we read: 

" And I entreat thee, also, true yoke-fellow, help those women 
which labored with me in the Gospel, with Clement also, and with 
other of my fellow-laborers, whose names are in the Book of Life." 

Paul, writing to the Christians at Philippi, where he 
had so much opposition, and where he was cast into 
jail, says in effect: Just take my regards to the good 
brethren and sisters who worked with me, and whose 
names are written in the Book of Life. This shows 
that they taught the doctrine of Assurance in the very 
earliest days of Christianity. Why should we not teach 
it and believe it now? 

I am told by travelers in China, that the Chinese 
have in their courts two great books. When a man is 
tried and found innocent, they write his name down in 
the book of life. If he is found guilty, they write his 
name down in the book of death. I believe firmly that 
every man or woman has his or her name in the Book 
of Death or the Book of Life. Your name cannot be 
in both books at the same time. You cannot be in 
death and in life at the same time, and it is your own 
privilege to know which it is. 

In Revelation xiii, 8, we read: 

" And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him [that is, 
the Anti-Christ] whose names are not written in the Book of Life 
of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." 



V4 tItJAVJEN: 



And again, chapter xx, 12: 

" And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the 
book was opened; and another book was opened, which is the Book 
of Life; and the dead were judged out of those things which were 
written in the books, according to their works." 

Again, chapter xxii, 27: 

" And there shall in no wise enter into it [the Holy City] any- 
thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or 
maketh a He; but they which are written in the Lamb's Book of 
Life." 

There can be no true peace, there can be no true 
hope, there can be no true comfort, where there is un- 
certainty. I am not fit for God's service, I cannot go 
out and work for God, if I am in doubt about my own 
salvation. 

NO KOOM FOE DOUBT. 

A mother has a sick child. The child is just hang- 
ing between life and death. There is no rest for that 
mother. You have some friend on a train that is 
wrecked, and the news comes that twenty have been 
killed and wounded, and their names are not given; 
you are in terrible uncertainty, and there is no rest or 
peace until you know the facts. The reason why there 
are so many in the churches who will not go out and 
help others, is that they are not sure they have been 
saved themselves. If I thought I was dying myself, 
I would be in a poor condition to save anyone else. 
Before I can pull anyone else out of the water, I must 
have a firm footing on shore myself. We can have 
this complete Assurance if we will. It does not do to 
feel we are all right, but we must know it. We must 
read our titles clear to mansions in the skies; the 



tfS CERTAINTY. ^5 



Apostle Jolm says: "Beloved, now are we the sons of 
God.'' He does not say we are going to be. 

People, when asked if they are Christians, give some 
of the strangest answers you ever heard. Some will 
say, if you ask them: " Well — well — well, I — I hope I 
am." Suppose a man should ask me if I am an Amer- 
ican. Would I say, " Well I— well I— I hope I am?" 
I know that I was born in this country, and I know I 
was born in the Spirit of God more than twenty years 
ago. All the infidels in the world could not convince 
me that I have not a different spirit than I had before 
I became a Christian. " That which is born of the flesh 
is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit," and 
a man can soon tell whether he is born of the Spirit by 
the change in his life. The Spirit of Christ is a spirit 
of love, joy, peace, humility and meekness, and we can 
soon find out whether we have been born of that spirit 
or not ; we are not to be left in uncertainty. Job lived 
back there in the dark ages, but he knew. The dark 
billows came rolling and surging up against him, but 
iu the midst of the storm you can hear his voice say- 
ing: "I know that my Redeemer liveth." He had 
something better than a hope. 

A man may have his name written in the highest 
chronicles down here, but the record may be lost ; he 
may have it carved in marble, and still it may perish; 
some charitable institution may bear his name, and yet 
he may be soon forgotten ; but his name will never be 
erased from the scrolls that are kept above. Seeking 
to perpetuate one's name on earth is like writing on the 
sand by the sea-shore ; to be perpetual it must be writ- 
ten on the eternal monuments. It has been said that 



76 HEAVEN. 



the way to see our names as they stand written in the 
Book of Life, is by reading the work of sanctification 
in our own hearts. It needs no miraculous voice from 
heaven, no extraordinary signs, no unusual feeling. We 
need only find our hearts desiring Christ and hating 
sin ; our minds obedient to the divine commands. 

We may be sure that belonging to some church is not 
going to save us, although every saved man ought to be 
connected with one. When Daniel died in Babylon, no 
one had to hunt up any old church record to find out if 
he was all right. When Paul was beheaded by Nero, 
no one had to look over the register. On the other 
hand, no one thinks Pontius Pilate was a saint because 
his name is in the creed. 

They lived so that the world knew what they were. 
Paul says : "I am persuaded that He is able to keep 
what I have committed unto Him against that day." 
There is Assurance. " Who shall separate us from the 
love of Christ?" he says; "neither life, nor death, nor 
angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things pres- 
ent, nor things to come." He just challenges them all, 
but they could not separate him from the love that was 
in Christ. 

It is dishonoring to God to go on hoping and only 
hoping that we " are going " to be saved. 

FALSE PKOFESSOKS. 

Yet there are some who ought 7iot to have assurance. 
It would be an unfortunate thing for any unconverted 
church member to have assurance. There are some 
who profess great assurance who ought not to have it 
— those whose lives do not correspond. This class is 



ITS CERTAINTY. 77 



represented by the man at the wedding feast who did 
not have on a wedding garment. 

They are like some lilies — fair to see bnt foul of 
smell. They are dry shells with no kernel inside. 
The crusaders of old used to wear a painted cross upon 
their shoulders. So there are a good many nowadays 
who take up crdfeses that sit just as lightly — mere 
things of ornament — passports to respectability, cheap 
make-believes, for a struggle that has never been made, 
and a crown that has never been striven for. 

You may very often see dead fish floating with the 
stream, but you never saw a dead fish swimming against 
it. Well, that is your false believer ; that is the hyp- 
ocrite. Profession is just floating down the stream, 
but co7ifession is swimming against it, no matter how 
strong the tide. The sanctified man and the unsancti- 
fied one look at heaven very differently. The unsanc- 
tified man simply chooses heaven in preference to hell. 
He thinks that if he must go to either one he would 
rather try heaven. It is like a man with a farm who 
has a place offered him in another country, where there 
is said to be a gold mine. He hates to give up all he 
has and take any risk. But if he is going to be ban- 
ished, and must leave, and has his choice of living in a 
wilderness or digging in a coal pit, or else take the 
gold mine, then there is no hesitation. The unregen- 
erate man likes heaven better than hell, but he likes 
this world the best of all. When death stares him in 
the face, then he thinks he would like to get to heaven. 
The true believer prizes heaven above everything else, 
and is always willing to give up the world. Everybody 
warits to enjoy heaven after they die, but they don't 



78 HEAVEN: 

want to be heavenly-minded while they live. To the 
Christian it is a sure promise, with no room for doubt, 
and there is no reason for hesitation. 

The heir to some great estate, while a child, thinks 
more of a dollar in his pocket than all his inheritance. 
So even some professing Christians sometimes are more 
elated by a passing pleasure than* they are by their 
title to eternal glory. In a little while Ave will be there. 
How glorious is the thought! Everything is prepared. 
That is what Christ went up to heaven for. In a little 
while we will be gone. We are — 

"Only waiting till the shadows 

Are a little longer grown, 
Only waiting till the glimmer 

Of the day's last beam has flown; 
Then from out the gathered darkness, 

Holy, deathless stars shall rise, 
By whose light our souls shall gladly 

Tread their pathway to th^ skies." 



ITS RICHES. 



79 



^erux^aFenf]^ M^ QhTonne* 



Jerusalem, my Home, 
Where shines the royal throne; 
Each king casts down his golden crown 
Before the Lamb thereon. 
Thence flows the crystal river, 
And flowing on forever, 
With leaves and fruits on either hand. 
The Tree of Life shall stand. 
In blood- washed robes, all white and fair, 
The Lamb shall lead His chosen there, 
While clouds of incense fill the air — 

Jerusalem, my Home! 

Jerusalem, my Home! 
Where saints in glory reign, 
Thy haven safe, O when shall I, 
Poor, storm-tossed pilgrim, gain? 
At distance dark and dreary, 
With sin and sorrow weary. 
For thee I toil, for thee I pray, 
For thee I long alway. 
And lo, mine eyes shall see thee, too; 
Oh, rend in twain, thou veil of blue, 
And let the Golden City through — 

Jerusalem, my Home! 



-Hopkins. 



«? 



ITS ETCHES. 81 



CHAPTEE V. 

ITS RICHES. 



Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven; for where your treas- 
ure is, there will your heart be also. Matt, vi, 20. 

No man thinks himself rich until he has all he wants. 
Very few people are satisfied with earthly riches. If 
they want any thing at all that they cannot get, that is 
a kind of poverty. Sometimes the richer the man the 
greater the poverty. Somebody has said that getting 
riches brings care ; keeping them brings trouble ; abus- 
ing them brings guilt ; and losing them brings sorrow. 
It is a great mistake to make so much of riches as we 
do. But there are some riches that we cannot praise 
too much: that never pass away. They are the treas- 
ures laid up in Heaven for those who truly belong to 
God. 

No matter how rich or elevated we may be here, 
there is always something that we want. The greatest 
chance the rich have over the poor is the one they en- 
joy the least — that of making themselves happy. 
Worldly riches never make any one truly happy. We 
all know, too, that they often take wings and fly away. 
It is said of Midas that whatever he touched turned into 
gold, but with his long ears he was not much the 
better for it. There is a great deal of truth in some 
6 



82 HEAVEN: 



o£ these old fables. Money, like time, ought not to be 
wasted, but I pity that man who has more of either 
than he knows how to use. There is no truer saying 
than that man by doing good with his money, stamps, 
as it were, the image of God upon it, and makes it pass 
current for the merchandise of heaven; but all the 
wealth of the universe would not buy a man's way 
there. Salvation must be taken as a gift for the ask- 
ing. There is no man so poor in this world that he 
may not be a heavenly millionaire. j '-z 

GOLD A BAD LIFE-PEESERVEE. r / 

How many are worshiping gold to-day! Where war 
has slain its thousands, gain has slain its millions. Its 
history in all ages has been the history of slavery and 
oppression. At this moment what an empire it has. 
The mine with its drudges, the manufactory with its 
misery, the plantation with its toil, the market and ex- 
change with their haggard and care-worn faces — these 
are but specimens of its menial servants. Titles and 
honors are its rewards, and thrones are at its disposal. 
Among its counsellors are kings, and many of the great 
and mighty of the earth are its subjects. This spirit 
of gain tries even to turn the globe itself into gold. 

It is related that Tarpeia, the daughter of the Gov- 
ernor of the fortress situated on the Capitoline Hill in 
Borne, was captivated with the golden bracelets of the 
Sabine soldiers, and agreed to let them into the fort- 
ress if they would give her what they wore upon their 
left arms. The contract was made ; the Sabines kept 
their promise. Tatius, their commander, was the first 
to deliver his bracelet and shield. The coveted 



ITS RICHES. 83 



treasures were thrown upon the traitress by each of the 
soldiers, till she sank beneath their weight and expired. 
Thus does the weight of gold carry many a man 
down. 

When the steamship " Central America" went down, 
several hundred miners were on board, returning to 
their early homes and friends. They had made their 
fortunes, and expected much happiness in enjoying 
them. In the first of the horror gold lost its attraction 
to them. The miners took off their treasure-belts and 
threw them aside. Carpet bags full of shining gold 
dust were emptied on the floor of the cabin. One of 
them poured out one^ hundred thousand dollars' worth 
in the cabin, and bade any one take it who would. 
Greed was over-mastered, and the gold found no takers. 
Dear fi-iends, it is well enough to have gold, but some- 
times it is a bad life-preserver. Sometimes it is a 
mighty weight that crushes us down to hell. 

The Rev. John Newton one day called to visit a fam- 
ily that had suffered the loss of all they possessed by 
fire. He found the pious mistress, and saluted her 
with: 

" I give you joy, madam." 

Surprised, and ready to be offended, she exclaimed: 

" What! Joy that all my property is consumed? " 

"O no," he answered, "but joy that you have so 
much property that fire cannot touch." 

This allusion to her real treasures checked her grief 
and brought reconciliation. As we read in Proverbs 
15, 6: "In the house of the righteous is much treas- 
ure; but in the revenues of the wicked is trouble." I 
have never seen a dying saint who was rich in heavenly 



84 HEAVEN: 



treasures who had any regret; I have never heard 
such a one say he had lived too much for God and 
heaven. 

GETTING WATEE-LOGGED. 

A friend of mine says he was at the River Mersey, 
in Liverpool, a few years ago, and he saw a vessel which 
had to be towed with a great deal of care into the har- 
bor ; it was clear down to the water's edge, and he won- 
dered why it did not sink. Pretty soon there came 
another vessel, without any help at all ; it did not need 
any tug to tow it in, but it steamed right up the Mer- 
sey past the other vessels ; and he made inquiry, and 
he found the vessel that had to be towed in was what 
they call water-logged — that is, it was loaded with lum- 
ber and material of that kind; and having sprung a 
leak had partially sunk, and it was very hard work to 
get into the harbor. Now, I believe there are a great 
many professed Christians, a great many, perhaps, who 
are really Christians, who have become water-logged. 
They have too many earthly treasures, and it takes near- 
ly the whole church — the whole spiritual power of the 
church to look after these worldly Christians, to keep 
them from going back entirely into the world. Why, 
if the whole church were, as John Wesley said, " hard 
at it, and ahvays at it," what a power there would be, 
and how soon we would reach the world and the masses ; 
but we are not reaching the world, because the church 
itself has become conformed to the world and worldly- 
minded, and because so many are wondering why they 
do not grow in grace while they have more of the earth 
in their thoughts than God. 



its RICHES. 8B 



Ministers would not have to urge people to live for 
heaven if tlieir treasures were up there; they could 
not help it ; their hearts would be there, and if their 
hearts were there their minds would be up there, and 
their lives would tend toward heaven. They could 
not help living for heaven if their treasures were 
there. 

A little girl one day said to her mother: "Mamma, 
my Sunday-school teacher tells me that this world is 
only a place in which God lets us live a while, that we 
may prepare for a better world. But, mother, I do not 
see anybody preparing, I see you preparing to go 
into the country, and Aunt Eliza is preparing to come 
here ; but I do not see anyone preparing to go there ; 
why don't they try to get ready? " 

A certain gentleman in the South, before the war, had 
a pious slave, and when the master died they told him 
he had gone to heaven. 

The old slave shook his head, " I's 'fraid massa no 
gone there," he said. 

"But why, Ben?" he was asked. 

" Cos, when Massa go North, or go a journey to the 
Springs, he talk about it a long time, and get ready. 
I never hear him talk about going to heaven ; never see 
him get ready to go there! " 

So there are a good many who do not get ready. 
Christ teaches in the Sermon on the Mount to^ — 



" Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth 
and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal; 
but lay up for yourselves treasures ia heaven, where neither moth 
nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through 
nor steal, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be 
also." 



86 HEAVEN: 



TKEASUEES OF THE HEAET. 

It does not take long to tell where a man's treasure 
is. In fifteen minutes' conversation with most men you 
can tell whether their treasures are on the earth or in 
heaven. Talk to a patriot about the country, and you 
will see his eye light up ; you will find he has his heart 
there. Talk to some business men, and tell them where 
they can make a thousand dollars, and see their inter- 
est; their hearts are there. You talk to fashionable 
people who are living just for fashion, of its affairs, 
and you will see their eyes kindle ; they are interested 
at once; their hearts are there. Talk to a politician 
about politics, and you see how suddenly he becomes 
interested. But talk to a child of God, who is laying 
up treasures in heaven, about heaven and about his 
future home, and see what enthusiasm. "Where your 
treasure is, there will your heart be also." 

Now, it is just as much a command for a man to "lay 
up treasure in heaven " as it is that he should not steal. 
Some people think all the commandments are in those 
ten that were given on Sinai, but when Jesus Christ 
was here. He gave us many other commandments. 
There is another commandment in this Sermon on the 
Mount: " Seek first the kingdom of God and His right- 
eousness, and all these things shall be added unto you ;" 
and here is a command that we are to lay up treasure 
in heaven and not on earth. The reason there are so 
many broken hearts in this land, the reason there are so 
many disappointed people, is because they have been 
laying up their treasures down here. 

The worthlessness of gold, for which so many are 
striving, is illustrated by a story that Dr. Arnot used 



ITS RICHES. 87 



to tell. A ship bearing a company of emigrants has 
been driven from her course and wrecked on a desert 
island, far from the reach of man. There is no way 
of escape ; but they have a good stock of food. The 
ocean surrounds them, but they have plenty of seeds, 
a fine soil, and a genial sun, so there is no danger. 
Before the plans are laid, an exploring party discovers 
a gold mine. There the whole party go to dig. They 
labor day after day and month after month. They get 
great heaps of gold. But spring is past, and laot a 
field has been cleared, not a grain of seed put into the 
ground. The summer comes and their wealth increases ; 
but their stock of food grows small. In the fall they 
find that their heaps of gold are worthless. Famine 
stares them in the face. They rush to the woods, they 
fell trees, dig up the roots, till the ground, sow the 
seed. It is too late ! Winter has come and their seed 
rots in the ground. They die of want in the midst of 
their treasures. 

This earth is the little isle ; eternity the ocean round 
it; on this shore we have been cast. There is a living 
seed; but the mines of gold attract us. We spend 
spring and summer there; winter overtakes us in our 
toil ; we are without the Bread of Life, and we are lost. 
Let us then who are Christians, value all the more the 
home which holds the treasures that no one can take 
away. Dr. Muhlenberg, a Lutheran clergyman, has 
written beautifully: 

" Who would live alway, BAvay from his God, 
Away from yon heaven, that blissful abode; 
Where the rivers of pleasure flow o'er the bright plains, 
And the harps of gold pour out their glorious strains; 



88 HEAVEN: 



And the saints of all ages in harmony meet 

Their Savior, and brethren transported, to greet; 

While the anthems of rapture unceasingly roll, 

And the smile of the Lord is the feast of the soul? 

That heavenly music, what is it I hear? 

The notes of the harpers ring sweet on my ear. 

To see soft unfolding those portals of gold — 

The King, all arrayed in His beauty, behold! 

Oh give me, oh give me, the wings of a dove, 

Let me hasten my flight to those mansions above ! 

Ay, 'tis now that my soul on swift pinions would soar, 

And in ecstacy bid earth adieu evermore." 

A BLACK-BOARD LESSON. 

When I was in San Francisco, I went into a Sabbatli- 
school the first Sunday I was there. It was a rainy 
day, and there were so few present that the Superin- 
tendent thought, of dismissing them, but instead, he af- 
terward invited me to speak to the whole school as one 
class. The lesson was that passage from the Sermon 
on the Mount: "Lay not up for yourselves treasures 
upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and 
where thieves breakthrough and steal." 

I invited a young man to the blackboard, and we 
proceeded to compare a few things that some people 
have on earth, and a few things that other people have 
in heaven. 

" Now," said I, " name some earthly treasure." 

They all shouted ''Gold." 

"Well, that is so," I said, "I suppose that is your 
greatest treasure out here in California. Now let us 
go on; what is another? " 

A second boy shouted, "Lands." 

" Well," I said, " we will put down Lands." 



ITS RICHES, 89 



"What else do the people out here in California 
think a good deal of and have their hearts set on ? " 

They said '^ Houses." 

" Put that down; what else? " 

"Pleasure." 

" Put that down." 

" Honor — fame." 

" Put them down." 

" Business." 

"Yes," I said; "a great many people have their 
hearts buried in their business — put that down." As 
if a little afraid, one of them said "dress," and the 
whole school smiled. 

"Put that down," I said. "Why, I believe there 
are some people in the world who think more of 
dress than any other thing. They just live for 
dress. I heard not long ago from very good author- 
ity, of a young lady who was dying of consumption. 
She had been living in the world and for the world, 
and it seemed as if the world had taken full possession 
of her. She thought she would die Thursday night, 
and Thursday she vv^anted them to crimp her hair, so 
that she would look beautiful in her coffin. But she 
didn't die Thursday night. She lingered through Fri- 
day, and Friday she didn't want them to take her hair 
down, but to keep it up until she passed away. And 
the friends said she looked very beautiful in the coffin! 
Just what people wear — the idea of people having their 
hearts set upon things of that kind! " 

"And what else, now?" Well, they were a little 
ashamed to say it, but one said: 
"Eum." 



90 HEAVEN: 



"Yes," I said, "put that down. There is many a 
man thinks more of the rum-bottle than he does of the 
Kingdom of God. He will give up his wife, he will 
give up his home and his mother, character and repu- 
tation forever for the rum-bottle. Many a man by his 
life is crying out, ' Give me rum, and I will give you 
heaven, and all its glories. I will sell my wife and 
children. I w^ill make them beggars and paupers. I 
wdll degrade and disgrace them for the rum-bottle. 
That is my treasure.' 

" 'Oh, thou rum bottle! 1 worship thee,' is the cry 
of many — they turn their backs on heaven with all its 
glories for rum. Some of them thought, when that 
little boy said ' rum,' that he made a mistake, that it 
was not a treasure, but it is a treasure to thousands." 
Another one said: 

" Fast horses." 

Said I, "Put it down. There is many a man who 
thinks a good deal of fast horses, and he wants to go 
out and take a fast horse and drive Sunday, and spend 
his Sabbath in this way." And after we finished, and 
thought of everything we could, T said: "Suppose we 
just take down some of these heavenly treasures. 

"And," said I, "What is there now that the Lord wants 
us to set our hearts and affections on ?" And they all said : 

"Jesus." 

" That is good; we will put Him down first at the 
head of the list. Now what else? " And they said: 

"Angels." 

" Put them down. "We will have their society when 
we go to heaven. That is a treasure up there, really. 
What else?" 



ITS RICHES. 91 



"The friends who have died in Christ, who have 
fallen asleep in Christ." 

" Put them down. Death has taken them from us 
now, but we will be with them by and by. What else ? " 

''Crowns." 

"Yes, we are going to have a crown, a crown of 
glory, a crown of righteousness, a crown that fadeth 
not away. What else?" 

"The tree of life." 

" Yes," I said, " the tree of life. We shall have a 
right to it. We can go to that tree and pluck its fruit, 
eat, and live forever. What else?" 

" The river of life." 

"Yes, we shall walk upon the banks of that clean 
river." 

" Harps," one said. 

Another one said " palms." 

"Yes," I said, "put them down. Those are treas- 
ures that we will have there." 

"Purity." 

" Yes, there will be none but the pure there. White 
robes, without spot or wrinkle on our garments. A 
great many find many flaws in our characters down 
here, but by and by Christ will present us before the 
Father without spot and without wrinkle, and we shall 
stand there complete in Him," I said. " Can you 
think of anything else?" And one of them said: 

" A new song." 

" Yes, we shall have a new song. It is the song of 
Moses and the Lamb. I don't know just who wrote it 
or how, but it will be a glorious song. I suppose the 
singing we have here on earth will be nothing 



92 ^ HEAVEN. 



compared with the songs of that upper world. Do you 
know the principal thing we are told we are going to 
do in heaven is singing, and that is why men ought to 
sing down here. We ought to begin to sing here so 
that it will not come strange when we get to heaven. I 
pity the professed Christian who has not a song in his 
heart — who never 'feels like singing.' It seems to 
me if we are truly children of God, we will want to 
sing about it. And so, when we get there, we cannot 
help shouting out the loud hallelujahs of heaven." 

Then I said: "Is there anything else?" Well, they 
went on. I cannot give you all, because we had to have 
two columns put down of the heavenly treasures. We 
stood there a little while and drew the contrast between 
the earthly and the heavenly treasures. We looked at 
them a little while, and when we came to put them all 
down beside Christ, the earthly treasures looked small, 
after all. What would all this world full of gold be 
compared with Jesus Christ? You who have Christ, 
would you like to part with Him for gold ? Would you 
like to give Him up for all the honor the earth can 
bestow on you for a few months or a few years ? Think 
of Christ! Think of the treasures of heaven. And 
then think of these earthly treasures that we have our 
hearts set upon, and that so many of us are living for. 

God blessed that lesson upon the blackboard in a 
marvelous way, for the man who had been writing down 
the treasures on the board happened to be an uncon- 
verted Sunday-school teacher, and had gone out there 
to California to make money; his heart was set upon 
gold, and he was living for that instead of for God. 
That was the idol of his heart, and do you know God 



ITS RICHES, 93 



convicted him at that blackboard, and the first convert 
that God gave me on the Pacific coast was that man, 
and he was the last man who shook hands with me when 
I left San Francisco. He saw how empty the earthly 
treasures were, and how grand and glorious the riches 
of heaven. Oh, if God would but open your eyes — 
and I think if you are honest and ask Him to do it 
He will — He will show you how empty this world is in 
comparison with what He has in store. 

There are a great many people who are wondering 
why they do not mount up on wings, as it were, and 
why they do not make some progress in the divine life ; 
why they do not grow more in grace. I think one 
reason may be they have too many earthly treasures. 
We need not be rich to have our hearts set on riches. 

We need not go in the world more than other people 
to have our hearts there. I believe the Prodigal 
was in the far country long before he put his feet there. 
When his heart reached there he was there. There is 
many a man who does not mingle so much in the world 
as others do, but his heart is there, and he would be 
there if he could, and God looks at the heart. 

Now, what we need to do is to obey the voice of the 
Master, and instead of laying up treasures on earth, 
lay them up in heaven. If we do that, bear in mind, 
we shall never be disappointed. 

It is clear that idolaters are not going to enter the 
kingdom of God. I may make an idol of my business ; 
I may make an idol of the wife of my bosom ; I may 
make idols of my children. I do not think you need 
go to heathen countries to find men guilty of idolatry. 
I think you will find a great many right here who have 



94 HEAVEN: 



idols in their hearts. Let us pray that the spirit of 
God may banish those idols from our hearts, that we 
may not be guilty of idolatry; that we may worship 
God in spirit and in truth. Anything that comes 
between me and God is an idol — anything, I don't care 
what it is ; business is all right in its place, and there 
is no danger of my loving my family too much if I love 
God more ; but God must have the first place ; and if 
He has not then the idol is set up. 

ALL ETEENITY FOR REST. 

Not the least of the riches of heaven will be the sat- 
isfaction of those wants of the soul, which are so much 
felt down here but are never found — such as infinite 
knowledge, perfect peace and satisfying love. Like a 
beautiful likeness that has been marred, daubed all 
over with streaks of black, and is then restored to its 
original beauty, so the soul is restored to its full beauty 
of color when it is washed with the blood of Jesus Christ. 
The senseless image on the canvas cannot be compared, 
however, in any other way with the living, rational soul. 

Could we but see some of our friends who have gone 
on before us we would very likely feel like falling down 
before them. The Apostle John had seen so many 
strange things, yet, when one of the bright angels stood 
before him to reveal some of the secrets of heaven, 
fell down to worship him. He says in the last chapter 
of Revelation: 

"And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had 
heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel 
which shewed me these things. Then saith he unto me, see thou do 
it not; for I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, 
and of them which keep the sayings of this book. Worship God." 



ITS RICHES. 95 



Among the wants which we have on earth is the 
thirst for knowledge. Much as sin has weakened man's 
mental faculties, it has not taken away any of his de- 
sire for knowledge. But with all his efforts, with all 
that he thinks he knows about astronomy, chemistry 
and geology, and the rest of the sciences, his knowl- 
edge of the secrets of nature is yet limited. 

There are very many things we do not know. Thous- 
ands of astronomers have lived and died, and the ages 
of the world have rolled on, and it was only the other 
day, as it were, that they found out that the planet 
Mars had tw^o moons. Perhaps in ages to come some 
one will find out that they are not moons at all. This 
is what most of our human knowledge amounts to. 

There is not one of our college professors, and many 
of them have gone nearly everywhere in the world, but 
is anxious to learn more and more, to find out new 
things, to make new discoveries. If we were as fa- 
miliar with all the stars of the firmament as we are 
with our own earth, still we would not be satisfied. 

Not until we are like God can we comprehend the 
infinite. Even the imperfect glimpses of God that we 
get by faith, only intensify our desire for more. For 
now, as Paul says in 1st Corinthians xiii, 12: 

"Now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face; 
now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known." 

The word Paul used, properly translated, is "mir- 
ror." Now we see God, as it were, in a looking-glass — 
but then face to face. 

Suppose we knew nothing of the sun except what we 
saw of its light reflected from the moon ? Would we 
not wonder about its immense distance^ about its 



96 HEAVEN: 

dazzling splendor, about its life-giving power? Now all 
that we see, the sun, the moon, the stars, the ocean, 
the earth, the flowers, and above all, man, are a grand 
mirror in which the perfection of God is imperfectly- 
reflected. 

Another want that we have is rest. We get tired of 
toiling. Yet there is no real rest on earth. We find in the 
4th chapter of Hebrews, beginning with the 9th verse: 

*' There remainetli therefore a rest to the people of God. For 
he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own 
works, as God did from His. Let us labor, therefore, to enter into 
that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbeHef." 

Now, while we all want rest, I think a great many 
people make a mistake when they think the church is 
a place of rest; and when they unite with the church 
they have a false idea about their position in it. There 
are a great many who come in to rest. The text tells 
us: "There remaineth a rest for the people of God," 
but it does not tell us that the church is a place of rest; 
we have all eternity to rest in. We are to rest by and 
by ; but we are to work here, and when our work is fin- 
ished, the Lord will call us home to enjoy that rest. 
There is no use in talking about rest down here in the 
enemy's country. We cannot rest in this world, where 
God's Son has been crucified and cast out. I think 
that a great many people are going to lose their re- 
ward just because they have come into the church with 
the idea that they are to rest there, as if the church 
was working for the reward, instead of each one build- 
ing over against his own house, each one using all his 
influence toward the building up of Christ's kingdom. 

In Revelation xiv, 13, we read: 



ITS RICHES. 97 



" And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed 
are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth; Yea, saith the 
Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do 
follow them." 

Now, death may rob us of money. Death may rob 
us of position. Death may rob ns of our friends; but 
there is one thing death can never do, and that is, 
rob us of the work that we do for God. That will live 
on forever. ''Their works do follow them." How 
much are we doing ? Anything that we do outside of 
ourselves, and not with a mean and selfish motive, that 
is going to live. We have the privilege of setting in 
motion streams of activity that will flow on when we 
are dead and gone. 

It is the privilege of everyone to live more in the 
future than they do in the present, so that their lives 
will tell in fifty or a hundred years more than they do now. 

John Wesley's influence is a thousand-fold greater 
to-day than it was when he was living. He still lives. 
He lives in the lives of thousands, and hundreds of 
thousands of his spiritual descendants. 

Martin Luther lives more truly to-day than he did 
three centuries ago, when he awakened Germany. 
He only lived one life, and that for a little while. But 
now, look at the hundreds and thousands and millions 
of lives that he is living. There are between fifty and 
sixty millions of people who profess to be followers of 
the Lord Jesus Christ, as taught by Martin Luther, 
who bear his name. He is dead in the sight of the 
world, but his ''works do follow him." He still lives. 

The voice of John the Baptist is ringing through 
the world to-day, although nearly nineteen hundred 
7 



98 HEAVEN, 



years haye passed away since Herodias asked for his 
death. Herod thought when he beheaded him that he 
was hushing his voice, but it is ringing throughout the 
earth to-day. John the Baptist lives, because he lived 
for God; but he has entered into his rest, and "his 
Avorks do follow him." 

And if they up yonder can see what is going on 
upon the earth, how much joy they must have to think 
that they have set these streams in motion, and that 
this work is going on — being carried on after them. 

If a man lives a mean, selfish life, he goes down to 
the grave, and his name and everything concerning him 
goes down in the grave wdth him. If he is ambitious 
to leave a record behind him, with a selfish motive, his 
name rots with his body. But if a man gets outside 
of himself and begins to work for God, hip name will 
live forever. Why, you may go to Scotland to-day, 
and you will find the influence of John Knox over every 
mountain in Scotland. It seems as if you could almost 
feel the breath of that man's prayer in Scotland to-day. 
His influence still lives. " Blessed are the dead who 
die in the Lord. They rest from their labors and their 
works do follow them." Blessed rest in store; we will 
rest by and by; but we should not waste time talking 
about rest while w^e are here. .... 

If I am to wipe a teal* from the cheek of that f ather- 
less'boy, I must do it down here. It is not said in 
Scripture that we shall have the privilege of doing that 
hereafter. If I am going to help up some fallen man 
who has been overtaken by sin, I must do it here. We 
are not going to have the privilege of being co-workers 
with God in the future — ^but that is our privilege 



ITS RICHES. 99 



to-day. We may not have it to-morrow. It may be 
taken from ns to-morrow; but we can enter into the 
vineyard and do something to-day before the sun goes 
down. We can do something now before we go to 
glory. 

Another want that we feel here is Love. Heaven is 
the only place where the conditions of love can be ful- 
filled. There love is essentially mutual. Everybody 
loves everybody else. In this world of wickedness and 
sin it seems impossible for people to be all on a perfect 
equality. When we meet people who are bright and 
beautiful and good, we have no difficulty in loving 
them. All the people of heaven will be like that. There 
will be no fear of misplaced confidences there. There 
we shall never be deceived by those we love. When a 
suspicion of doubt fastens upon any one who loves, their 
happiness from that moment is at an end. There will 
be no suspicion there. 

" Beyond these chilling winds and gloomy skies, 
Beyond death's cloudy portal, 
There is a land where beauty never dies — 
Where love becomes immortal." 



Maix^f ©nie ©a^. 

BY TIMOTHY POLAND. 

Ye ken, dear bairn, that we maun part, 
When death, cauld death, shall bid us start; 
But when he'll send his fearfu' dart 

We canna say. 
So we'll mak' ready for his dart 

Maist onie day. 

We'll keep a' right and guid wi'in. 
Our wark will then be free frae sin. 
Upright we'll walk through thick and thin, 

Straight on our way. 
Deal just wi' a', the prize we'll win 

Maist onie day. 

Ye ken there's Ane, wha's just and wise. 
Has said that a' His bairns should rise. 
An' soar aboon the lofty skies, 

And there shall stay. 
Being well prepared we'll gain the prize 

Maist onie day. 

When He wha made a' things just right, 
Shall call us hence to realms of light, 
Be it morn or noon, or e'en or night, 

We will obey. 
We'll be prepared to tak' our flight 

Maist onie day. 

Our lamps we'll fill brimfu' o' oil, 
Thet's guid and pure, that wadna spoil. 
And keep them burning a' the while, 

To light our way. 
Our wark bein' done we'll quit the soil, 

Maist onie day. 



lOQ 



ITS KE WARDS, 



lot 



Hof (Here ! flo^ Jfere ! 



Not here! Not here! Not where the sparkling waters 
Fade into mocking sands as we draw near; 

Where, in the wilderness, each footstep falters! 
"I shall be satisfied;" but oh, not here! 

There is a land where every pulse is thrilling 
With rapture earth's sojourners may not know, 

Where heaven's repose the weary heart is stilling, 
And peacefully Hfe's storm-tossed currents flow. 

"Satisfied! Satisfied!" The spirit's yearning 
For sweet companionship with kindred minds, 
The silent love that here meets no returning, 
The inspiration which no language finds. 

" I shall be satisfied." The soul's vague longings, 
The aching void which nothing earthly fills! 
Oh! What desires upon my soul are thronging 
As I look upward to the heavenly hills. 

Thither my weak and weary steps are tending; 

Savior and Lord, with thy frail child abide; 
Guide me toward Home, where, all my wanderings ended, 

I then shall see Thee, and " he satisfied" 

— Anon. 



loe 



ITS REWABDS. 103 



CHAPTER VI. 

ITS REWARDS. 



Every man shall receive his own reward according to his own 
labor. I Cor. iii, 8. 

My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work 
shall be. Rev. xxii, 12. 

If I understand things correctly, whenever yon find 
men or women who are looking to be rewarded here 
for doing right, they are unqualified to work for God; 
because if they are looking for the applause of men, 
looking for reward in this life, it will disqualify them 
for the service of God, because they are all the while 
compromising truth. 

They are afraid of hurting some one's feelings. 
They are afraid that some one is going to say some- 
thing against them, or there will be some newspaper 
articles written against them. Now, we must trample 
the world under our feet if we are going to get our re- 
ward hereafter. If we live for God we must suffer per- 
secution. The kingdom of darkness and the kingdom 
of light are at war, and have been, and will be as long 
as Satan is permitted to reign in this world. As long 
as the kingdom of darkness is permitted to exist, there 
will be a conflict, and if you want to be popular in the 



104 HEAVEN. 



kingdom of God, if you want to be popular in heaven, 
and get a reward that shall last forever, you will have 
to be unpopular here. 

If you seek the applause of men, you can't have the 
Lord say "Well done" at the end of the journey 
You can't have both. Why ? Because this world is at 
war with God. This idea that the world is getting bet- 
ter all the while is false. The old natural heart is just 
as much at enmity with God as it was when Cain slew 
Abel. Sin leaped into the world full grown in Cain. 
And from the time that Cain was born into the world to 
the present, man by nature has been at war with God. 
This world was not established in grace, and we have to 
fight "the world, the flesh and the devil;" and if we 
fight the world, the world w^on't like us ; and if we fight 
the flesh, the flesh won't like us. We have to mortify 
the flesh. We have to crucify the old man and put 
him under. Then, by and by, we will get our reward, 
and a glorious reward it will be. 

We read in Luke xvi, 15: 

" And He said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves 
before men; but God knoweth your hearts; for that which is highly 
esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God." 

We must go right against the current of this world. 
If the world has nothing to say against us, we can be 
pretty sure that the Lord Jesus Christ has very little to 
say for us. There are those who do not like to go 
against the current of the world. They say they know 
this and that is wrong, but they do not say a word 
against it lest it might make them unpopular. If we 
expect to get the reward we must fight the good fight 
of faith. For all such, as Paul has said, ''there is laid 



ITS REWARDS. 105 



up a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the right- 
eous Judge, shall give us at that day." 

FEAR OF DEATH. 

How little do we realize the meaning of the word 
ETERNITY ! The whole time between the creation of the 
world and the ending of it would not make a day in 
eternity. In time, it is like the infinity of space, whose 
center is everywhere and whose boundary is nowhere. 
We read in the Epistle to the Hebrews: 

" Forasmuch, then, as the children are partakers of flesh and 
blood, He, also Himself, likewise took part of the same; that 
through death He might destroy Him that had the power of death 
— ^that is the devil — and deliver them who, through fear of death, 
were all their lifetime subject to bondage." 

There are a great many of God's professed children 
who live in continual bondage, in the constant fear of 
death. I believe that it is dishonoring God. I believe 
that it is not His will to have one of His children live 
in fear for one moment. If you know the truth as it is 
in Christ, there need be no fear, there need be no dread, 
because death will only hasten you on to glory ; and your 
names are already there. 

And then the next thought is for those who are dear 
to us. I believe that it is not only our privilege to 
have our names written in heaven, but those of the 
children whom God has given us ; and our hearts ought 
to go right out for them. The promise is not only to 
us, but to our children. Many a father's and many a 
mother's heart is burdened with anxiety for the salva- 
tion of their children. If your own name is there, let 
your next aim in life be to get the children whom God 
has given you, there also. 



106 Heaven, 



A mother was dying in one of our Eastern cities a 
few years ago, and she had a large family of children. 
She died of consumption, and the children were 
brought in to her one by one as she was sinking. She 
gave the oldest one her last message and her dying 
blessing; and as the next one was brought in she put 
her hand upon its head and gave it her blessing; and 
then the next one was brought in, and the next, until 
at last they brought in the little infant. She took it to 
her bosom and pressed to her loving heart, and her 
friends saAV that it was hastening her end ; that she was 
excited, and as they went to take the little child from 
her, she said: "My husband, I charge you to bring 
all these children home with you." And so God 
charges us parents to bring our children home with us ; 
not only to have our own names written in heaven, but 
those of our children also. 

An eminent Christian worker in New York told me 
a story that affected me very much. 

A father had a son who had been sick some time, but 
he did not consider him dangerously ill ; until one day 
he came home to dinner and found his wife weeping, 
and he asked, " What is the trouble?" 

" There has been a great change in our boy since 
morning," the mother said, " and I am afraid he is 
dying ; I wish you to go in and see him, and, if you think 
he is, I wish you to tell him so, for I cannot bear to." 

The father went in and sat down by the bed-side, 
and he placed his hand upon his forehead, and he could 
feel the cold, damp sweat of death, and knew its cold, 
icy hand was feeling for the cords of life, and that 
his boy was soon to be taken away, and he said to him : 



ITS REWARDS. 107 



" My son, do you know you are dying? " 

The little fellow looked up at him and said: 

" No ; am I ? Is this death that I feel stealing over 
me, father?" 

" Yes, my son, you are dying." 

" Will I live the day out?" 

" No; you may die at any moment." 

He looked up to his father, and he said: ''Well, I 
shall be with Jesus to-night, won't I, father? " 

And the father answered: " Yes, my boy, you will 
spend to-night with the Savior," and the father turned 
away to conceal the tears, that the little boy might not 
see him weep; but he saw the tears, and he said: 

"Father, don't you weep for me; when I get to 
heaven I will go straight to Jesus and tell Him that ever 
since I can remember you have tried to lead me to Him." 

I have three children, and the greatest desire of my 
heart is that they may be saved; that I may know that 
their names are written in the Book of Life. I may 
be taken from them early; I may leave them in this 
changing world without a father's care; but I would 
rather have my children say that of me after I am 
dead and gone, or if they die before me I would 
rather they should take that message to the Master — 
that ever since they can remember I have tried to lead 
them to the Master — ^than to have a monument over me 
reaching to the skies. 

We ought not to look upon death as we do. Bishop 
Heber has written of a dead friend: 

" Thou art gone to the grave ! but we will not deplore thee, 
Though sorrow and darkness encompass the tomb; 

Thy Savior has passed through its portals before thee, 
And the lamp of His love is thy guide through the gloom. 



108 HEAVEif, 



" Thou art gone to the grave! We no longer behold thee, 
Nor tread the rough paths of the world by thy side; 

But the wide arms of Mercy are spread to enfold thee, 
And sinners may die, for the Sinless has died." 

The roll is being called, and one after another sum- 
moned away, but if the names of our loved ones are 
there, if we know that they are saved, how sweet it is, 
after they have left us, to think that we shall meet them 
by and by ; that we shall see them in the morn when 
the night has worn away. 

During the late war a young man lay on a cot, and 
they heard him say, " Here, here! " and some one went 
to his cot and wanted to know what he wanted, and he 
said, "Hark! Hush, don't you hear them ? " "Hear 
whom?" was asked. "They are calling the roll of 
heaven," he said, and pretty soon he answered, "Here!" 
— and he was gone. If our names are in the Book of 
Life, by and by when the name is called, we can say 
with Samuel, "Here am I!" and fly away to meet 
Him. And if our children are called away early, 
O, it is so sweet to think that they died in Christ ; that 
the great Shepherd gathers them in His arms and car- 
ries them in His bosom, and that we shall meet them 
by and by. 

PAUL, THE CHRISTIAN HEEO. 

The way to get to heaven is to be saved through faith 
in Jesus Christ. 

We get salvation as a gift, but we have to work it 
out, just as if we got a gold mine for a gift. 

I do not get a crown by joining the church, or rent- 
ing a pew. 

There was Paul. He won his crown. He had many 
a hard fight; he met Satan on many a battle-field, and 



ITS REWARDS. 109 



he overcame him and wore the crown. It would take 
about ten thousand of the average Christians of 
this day or any other to make one of Paul. When I 
read the life of that Apostle, I blush for the Christian- 
ity of the nineteenth century. It is a weak and sickly 
thing. 

See what he went through. He five times was 
scourged. The old Eoman custom of scourging was to 
take the prisoner and bind his wrists together and bend 
him over in a stooping posture, and the Roman soldier 
would bring the lash, braided with sharp pieces of steel 
down upon the bare back of the prisoner and cut him 
through the skin, so that men sometimes died in the 
act of being scourged. But Paul says he was scourged 
five different times. Now if we should get one stripe 
upon our backs what a whining there would be; there 
would be forty publishers after us before the sun went 
down, and they would want to publish our lives, that 
they could make capital out of them. But Paul says, 
''Five times received I forty stripes, save one." That 
was nothing for him. Take your stand by his side. 

"Paul, you have been beaten by these Jews four 
times, and they are going to give you thirty-nine stripes 
more; what are you going to do after yoa get out of 
the difficulty ? What are you going to do about it all ? 

"Do ?" says he, "I will do this one thing; I will 
press toward the mark of the prize of my high calling ; 
I am on my way to get my crov/n." He was not going 
to lose his crown. " Don't think that a few stripes will 
turn me away; these light afflictions are nothing." 

And so they put on thirty-nine more stripes. 

He had sprung into the race for Christ, as it were. 



110 HEAVEN: 



and was leaping toward heaven. If you will allow me 
the expression, the devil got his match when he met 
Paul. He never switched off to a side-track. He 
never sat down to write a letter to defend himself. All 
the strength that he had he gave to Christ. He never 
gave a particle to the world nor to himself to defend 
himself. " This one thing I do," he said, " I am not 
going to lose the crown." See that no man take your 
crown. 

u Thrice beaten with rods." Take your stand again 
beside him. 

" Now, Paul, they have beaten you twice, and they 
are going to beat you again. What are you going to 
do ? Are you going to continue preaching ? If you 
are, let me give you a little advice. Now, don't be 
quite so radical; be a little more conservative; just use 
a little finer language, and, so to speak, cover up the 
cross with beautiful words and flowery sentences, and 
tell men that they are pretty good after all ; that they 
are not so bad, and try and pacify the Jews; make 
friends with them, and get in with the world, and the 
world will think more of you. Don't be so earnest; 
don't be so radical, Paul ; now come, take our advice. 
What are you going to do? " 

"Do?" he says, ''I do this one thing — I press 
toward the mark of the prize of my high calling." So 
they put on the rods, and every blow lifts him nearer 
God. 

Take your stand with him again. They begin to 
stone him. That is the way they killed those who did 
not preach to suit them. 

It seems as if he was about to be paid back in his 



ITS REWARDS. HI 



own coin, for when Stephen was stoned to death, Paul, 
then known as Saul, cheered on the crowd. 

" Now, Paul, this is growing serious; hadn't you bet- 
ter take back some of the things you have said about 
Jesus ? What are you going to do ? " 

"Do?" he says, "if they take my life I will only 
get my crown the sooner." 

He would not budge an inch. He had something 
that the world could not give; he had something it 
could not take away ; he had eternal life, and he had in 
store a crown of glory. 

THESE LIGHT AFFLICTIONS. 

Three times was he shipwrecked; a day and a night 
in the deep. Look at that mighty apostle, a whole 
day and night in the deep. There he was — ship- 
wrecked, and for what ? Was it to make money ? He 
was not after money. He was just going from city to 
city, and town to town, to preach the glorious gospel of 
Jesus Christ, and to lift up the cross wherever he had 
opportunity. He went down to Corinth and preached 
eighteen months, and he didn't have a lot of the lead- 
ing ministers of Corinth to come on the platform and 
sit by his side when he preached. There was not a 
man who stood by him. When he reached Corinth he 
had none of the leading business men to stand by him 
and advise him; but the little tent-maker arrives in 
Corinth a perfect stranger, and the first thing he does 
is to find a place where he can make a tent; he does not 
go to a hotel; his means will not allow it; he goes where 
he can make his bread by the sweat of his brow. Think 
of that great apostle making a tent, and then getting 



112 HEAVEN: 

on the corner of a street and preaching, and perhaps 
once in a while he would get into a synagogue, but the 
Jews would turn him out ; they did not want to hear 
him preach anything about Jesus the Crucified. 

When I read of the life of such a man, how I blush 
to think how sickly and dwarfed Christianity is at the 
present time, and how many hundreds there are who 
never think of working for the Son of God and honor- 
ing Christ. 

Yet when he wrote that letter back to Corinth, we 
find him taking an inventory of some things he had. 
He is rich, he says, " In journeying soften, in perils of 
waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by my own coun- 
trymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, 
in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils 
among false brethren." This last must have been 
the hardest of all. "In weariness and painfulness, in 
watchings often ; in hunger and thirst, in fastings often ; 
in cold, in nakedness ; and besides those things that are 
without, the care of all the churches." (II Cor. xi, 26- 
28. ) These are only some of the things that he summed 
up. Do you know what made him so exceedingly hap- 
py ? It was because he believed the Scripture ; he be- 
lieved the Sermon on the Mount. We profess to be- 
lieve it; we pretend to believe it; but few of us more 
than half believe it. Listen to one sentence in that 
sermon: "Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is 
your reward in heaven," when you are persecuted. 
Now persecution was about all that Paul had. 

That was his capital, and he had a good deal of it; 
he had laid by a good many persecutions, and he was 
to get a great reward. Christ says: "Rejoice and be 



ITS BE WARDS. 113 



exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven." 
If Jesus Christ spoke of it as "great" it must be 
indeed wonderful. We call things great that may look 
very small to Jesus Christ ; and things that look very 
small to us may look very large to Him. "When the 
great Christ, the Creator of heaven and earth, He who 
formed the heavens and the earth by His mighty power, 
when He calls it a great reward, what must it be ? 

Perhaps some people said to the Apostle to the Gen- 
tiles: "Now, Paul, you are meeting with too much 
opposition; you are suffering too much." 

Hear him reply: " Our light affliction, which is but 
for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and 
eternal weight of glory." 

" Our light affliction," he calls it. We would have 
called it pretty hard, pretty heavy, would we not? " 

But he says: "These light afflictions are nothing; 
think of the glory before me, and think of the crowning 
time ; think of the reward that is laid up for me. I am 
on my w^ay; the Righteous Judge will give it to me 
when the time comes ;" and that is what filled his soul 
with joy ; it was the thought of reward that the Lord 
had in store for him. 

Now, my friends, let us just for a minute think of 
what Paul accomplished. Think of going out, as it 
were, among the heathen ; the first missionary to preach 
to these men, who were so full of wickedness, so full of 
enmity and bitterness, the glorious gospel of Jesus 
Christ, and to tell them that the man who died outside 
the walls of the city of Jerusalem the death of a com- 
mon prisoner, a common felon, in the sight of the 
world, was the promised Christ; to tell them that they 
8 



114 HEAVEN: 

had to believe in that crucified Man in order to enter 
the kingdom of God. Think of the dark mountain that 
rose up before him; think of the opposition; think of 
the bitter persecution, and then think of the trifles in 
our way. 

SONGS IN PKISON. 

But a great many worldly people think Paul's life 
was a failure. Probably his enemies, when they put 
him in prison, thought that would silence him ; but do 
you know that I believe to-day Paul thanks God more 
for prisons, for stripes, for the persecution and opposi- 
tion that he suffered, than for anything else that hap- 
pened to him here ? 

The very things we do not like are sometimes the 
very best for us. 

Christians probably might not have these glorious 
Epistles, if Paul had not been thrown into prison. There 
he took up his pen and wrote letters to the Christians 
in Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, Colossse, and to Phile- 
mon and Timothy. Look at the two Epistles that he 
wrote to the Corinthians. How much has been done 
for the world by these Epistles. What a blessing they 
have been to the church of God ; how great a light they 
have thrown on many a man's life. But we might not 
have had those Epistles if it had not been for persecu- 
tion. 

Perhaps John Bunyan blesses God more to-day for 
Bedford jail than anything that happened to him. 
Probably we would not have the Pilgrim's Progress if 
he had not been thrown into that prison. Satan thought 
he accomplished a great deal when he shut up Bunyan 



ITS REWARDS. 115 



for twelve years and six months ; but what a blessing 
it was to the world; and I believe Paul blesses God to- 
day for the Philippian jail, and for the imprisonment 
he suffered in Eome, because it gave him time to write 
those blessed letters. Talk of Alexander making the 
world tremble with the tread of his armies, and of Caesar 
and Napoleon's power, but here is a little tent-maker, 
who, without an army, turned the world upside down. 

Why? 

Because God Almighty was with him. 

Paul says in one place: "None of these things move 
me." (Acts xx, 24.) They threw him in prison, but it 
was all the same ; it did not move him. When he w^as 
at Corinth and Athens preaching, it made no difference. 
He ust ''pressed toward the mark of the prize of his 
high calling." If God wanted him to go through 
prisons to win the prize, it was all the same to him. 
They put him in prison, but they put the Almighty in 
with him, and Paul was so linked to Jesus that they 
could not separate them. He would rather be in prison 
with Christ than out of prison without Him. He 
would a thousand times rather be cast into prison with 
the Son of God and suffer a little persecution for a few 
days here, than to be living at ease without Him. 

He heard the cry, "Come over into Macedonia and 
help us." He went over and preached, and the first 
thing that happened to him was that he was put into 
the Philippian jail. Now, if he had been as faint- 
hearted as most of us, he Avould have been disappointed 
and cast down. There would have been a great com- 
plaint. 

He would have said; " This is a strange Providence; 



116 HEAVEN: 

whatever brought me here ? I thought the Lord called 
me here; here I am in prison in a strange city; how 
did 1 ever get here ? How will I ever get out of this 
place ? I have no money ; I have no friends ; I have no 
attorney; I have no one to intercede for me, and here 
I am." Paul and Silas were not only in prison, but 
their feet were made fast in the stocks. There they 
were, in the inner prison, a dark, cold, damp dungeon. 
But at midnight the other prisoners heard a strange 
sound. They had never heard anything like it before. 
They heard singing. I do not know what song those 
two imprisoned evangelists sang, but I know one thing, 
it was not " a doleful sound from the tombs." You 
know we have a hymn, '' Hark, from the tombs a dole- 
ful sound." They did not sing that, but the Bible tells 
us they sang praises. That was a queer place to sing 
praises, was it not? 

I suppose it was time for the evening prayers, and 
that they had just had their evening prayer and then 
sang their evening hymn. And God answered their 
prayers, and the old prison shook, and the chains 
dropped, and the prison doors were opened. Yes, yes ; 
I have no doubt that in glory he thanks God that he 
went to jail and that the Philippian jailer became con- 
verted. 

SWEPT INTO GLORY. 

But look at him at Rome. Nero has signed his 
death warrant. Take your stand and look at the little 
man. He is small; in the sight of the world he is 
contemptible (II Cor. xii, 10) ; the world frowns upon 
him. Go to the palace of the king and talk about that 



ITS REWAUDS. 117 



criminal — about Paul — and you will see a sneer on 
their countenances. 

" Oh, he is a fanatic," they say; " he has gone mad." 
I wish the world was filled with such fanatics. I tell 
you w^hat we want to-day is a few fanatics like him; 
men who fear nothing but sin and love no one but God. 

Eome never had such a conqueror within her walls. 
Eome never had such a mighty man as Paul within her 
boundaries. Although the world looked down upon 
him, and perhaps he looked very small and contempti- 
ble, yet in the sight of heaven he was the mightiest 
man who ever trod the streets ofc Eome. Probably 
there will never be another one like him traveling those 
streets. The Son of God walked with him, and the 
form of the Fourth was with him. But go into that 
prison; there he is; oflScials come to him and tell him 
that Nero has signed his death-warrant. He does not 
tremble; he is not afraid. 

" Paul, are you not sorry you have been so zealous 
for Christ ? It is going to cost you your life ; if you 
had to live it over again, would you give it to Jesus of 
Nazareth? " What do you think the old warrier would 
reply ? 

See that eye light up as he says: " If I had ten thous- 
and lives I should give every one of those lives to 
Christ, and the only regret I have is that I did not 
commence earlier and serve Him better ; the only regret 
I have now is that I ever lifted my voice against Jesus 
of Nazareth." 

" But they are going to behead you." 

' Well, they may take my head, but the Lord has my 
heart. I care nothing about my head ; the Lord has 



118 Hj^aven, 



my heart and has had it for years. They cannot sep- 
arate me from the Lord, and when my head is taken 
off, I shall depart to be with Christ, which is far better." 

And they led him out. I do not know at what hour; 
perhaps it was early in the morning. There is a tra- 
dition tells us that they led him two miles out of the 
city. Look at the little tent-maker as he goes through 
the streets of Kome with a firm tread. Look at that 
giant as he moves through the streets. He is on his 
way to execution. Take your stand by his side and 
hear him talk. He is talking of the glory beyond. 

He says: "Henceforth there is laid up for me a 
crown of righteousness. I shall see the King in His 
beauty to-night. I have longed to be with Him; I 
have longed to see Him. This is the day of my 
crowning." 

The world scoffed at him, but he did not hee dits 
scoffing. He had something the world had not; burn- 
ing within him he had a love and zeal which the world 
knew nothing about. Ah, the love that Paul had for 
Jesus Christ! But, oh, the greater love the Lord Jesus 
had for Paul! 

The hour has come. The way they used to behead 
them in those days was for the prisoner to bend his 
head, when a Koman soldier took a sword and cut it 
off. The hour had come, and I seem to see Paul, with 
a joyful countenance, bending his blessed head, as the 
soldier's sword comes down and sets his spirit free. 

If our eyes could look as Elisha's looked, we might 
have seen him leap into a chariot of light like Elijah ; 
we would have seen him go sweeping through limitless 
space. 



ITS REWARDS. 119 



Look at liim now as he mounts higher and higher ; 
look at him, see him move up; up — up — up — ever 
upward. 

Look at him yonder! 

See! He is entering now the Eternal City of the 
glorified saints, the blissful abode of the Savior's 
redeemed. The prize he so long has sought is at hand. 
See the gates yonder ; how they fly wide open. See the 
herald angels on the shining battlements of heaven. 
Hear the glad shout that is passed along, " He is com- 
ing! He is coming!" And he goes sweeping through 
the pearly gates, along the shining way, to the very 
throne of God, and Christ stands there and says: " Well 
done, thou good and faithful servant; enter thou into 
the joy of thy Lord." 

Just think of hearing the Master say it. Will not 
that be enough for everything ? 

O friends, your turn and mine will come by-and-by, 
if we are but faithful. Let us see that we do not lose 
the crown. Let us awake and put on the whole armor 
of God ; ' let us press into the conflict ; it is a glorious 
privilege ; and then to us too, as to the glorified of old, 
will come that blessed welcome from our glorified Lord: 
" Well done, thou good and faithful servant." 



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heard them everywhere with gladness. — Central Baptist. 
Twelve Select Sermons. By D. L. Moody, iioth Thousand. 

This volume contains those special sermons, which have appeared 
to be most useful, and under which there have been the greatest 
results. 

Carefully revised by Mr. Moody, they present a volume of choice 
and striking addresses, sure to command a large sale. 

With the effect of these addresses when spoken^ the whole land is 
acquainted, and now that they are written^ they will tend to keep 
in force the impressions they have already made. — Methodist. 

Mr. Moody's happy style, abounding in striking anecdote and 
illustration, make it a most readable and convincing volume. — The 
Watchman. 

Full of earnest enthusiasm which characterizes everything Mr. 
Moody does, and will be read with interest. — Detroit Free Press. 

There are few who heard any one of these sermons who will fail 
to be delighted with this opportunity of making a calm acquaint- 
ance with it again. — Daily Review. 

This book is one of pre-eminent interest, as containing an author- 
ized record of the teaching under which, along with other means, 
such great and extensive religious impressions have been recently 
produced in this country. — The Messenger. 

Will be read by thousands with memorable interest. — Record, 

CHICAGO: F. H. REVELL, 14S & 130 MADISON ST. 
- 3 



WORKS BY D. L. MOODY. 



The Way to God, and How to Find it. Fifty-fifth Thousand. 

It consists of nine chapters of the kind only D. L. Moody can 
write. The little volume contains the most convincing argument 
ever framed for the use of common people. It is a good book to 
drop into the sachel of your boy or girl ; good to send to some friend 
at a distance in whom you have an interest, and good upon your own 
study table. — Inter Ocean. 

**The Way to God'* is a theme upon which the Evangelist has 
been wont to dwell. Here in nine chapters he grasps together words 
of advice regarding that path which it is the happy privilege of the 
minister to continually make plain. — Chicago Sta?idard. 

They are characterized by his usual simplicity, directness, fervor 
and exceptional power of vivid illustration. — Christian Herald, 

They are sharply to the point, plainly practical, and orthodox in a 
good, simple and true sense. — -Christian Advocate. 

It will lead sinners to trust in God, and fire the hearts of layman 
and minister to noble works for the Master. — Baptist Reflector, 

It puts the way so plain that he who runs may read. — Religious 
Telescope, 

It is an excellent manual for the soul winners, and for the awak- 
ened seeker, and we trust will be the means of leading thousands to 
Christian hope and heaven. — Zions Herald. 

Very earnest and powerful^ abounding in apt illustrations, striking 
thoughts, and helpful, encouraging words. This book is written in 
the same plain, simple and pointed style that lends such force to his 
spoken words. The volume should find many readers. Those that 
buy it will not be disappointed. — National Baptist, 

Daniel, the Prophet. An Amplification and Extension of Mr. Moody's 
various Lectures on the Life of Daniel. 

Tinted covers, 20c. ; cloth, 40c. 

A small book; but big as regards the truth it contains. Every 
worker in the Lord's vineyard would be helped by reading it. — Rail- 
way Signal, 

The Way and The Word. By D. L. Moody. Forty-fifth Thousand. 

Paper, 15c.; cloth, 25c. 

This little work contains a very clear statement on the important 
subject, Regeneration, to which is added Mr. Moody's valuable hints 
on Bible Reading. 

Mr. Moody has used this book by the thousand, placing them in 
the hands of young converts at the close of his meetings. 

The Second Coming of Christ. By D. L. Moody. Fortieth Thou- 
sand. Tinted covers, loc. 

"The moment a man takes hold of the truth that Jesus is coming 
back again to receive His followers to Himself, this world loses its 
hold upon him. Gas stocks and water stocks, and stocks in banks 
and railroads, are of very much less consequence to him then. His 
heart is free, and he looks for the blessed appearing of the Lord, 
who at His coming, will take him into His blessed Kingdom.'' — 
Extract, 

How to Conduct Inquiry Meetings. By D. L. Moody, and The 
Use of the Bible in Inquiry Meetings. By D. W. Whittle. 
40 pages and cover. Price 15c. 

CHICAGO: F. H. REVELL, 148 & 130 MADISON ST. 



A SELECTION FROM THE CATALOGUE 



— OF — 



) 



FLEMING H. REVELL, 

Publisher of Evangelical Literature, 
148 & 150 MADISON STREET, CHICAGO. 

The Followitiff Books sent Post-paid on Receipt of Price. 
HELPS IN BIBLE STUDY. 



Notes and Suggestions for Bible Readings. Seventeenth thousand. 
Compiled by S. R. Briggs and J. H. Elliott. Acknowledged to 
be the very best help for Bible readings in print. Containing, in 
addition to twelve introductory chapters on plans and methods of 
Bible study and Bible readings, over six hundred outlines of Bible 
readings by many of the most eminent Bible students of the day. 

Large i2mo, 262 pages, with complete index, cloth, fine library 
style, $1.00; Flexible cloth, travelers' edition, 75c; Cheap edition, 
paper covers, 50c. 

This is a book which every Bible student should possess. Those 
who conduct Bible readings w^ll find it most suggestive. — Chris- 
tian Progress, 

Symbols and Systems in Bible Readings. By Rev. W. F. Crafts. 

Giving a plan of Bible reading, with fifty verses definitely assigned 
for each day, the Bible being arranged with much labor in the order 
of its events. The entire symbolism of the Bible also explained 
concisely and clearly. 100 hints upon Bible markings and Bible 
readings are added. 

A year of work upon such a system would yield rich harvests of 
Bible knowledge and spiritual experience. — S S. World. 

The True Tabernacle. A series of lectures on the Jewish Tabernacle 
and its typical signification. By George C. Needham. Illustrated, 
cloth, neat, 75c. 

"C. H. M.'s" Notes. By C. H. McIntosh. Genesis, 75c; Exodus, 75c; 
Leviticus, 75c; Numbers, 75c; Deuteronomy^ 2 vols.^ each, 75c. 

The notes breathe a very sweet and reverential spirit, and the 
author shows wonderful insight into the heart of truths. — Evangelist. 

Mr. D. L. Moody says of these books: **They have been to me 
a very key to the Scriptures. " 

Major D. W. Whittle says: "Under God they have blessed me 
more than any books, outside of the Bible itself, that I have ever 
read, and have led me to a love of the Bible that is proving an 
unfailing source of profit." 



HELPS IN BIBLE STUDY. 



Life and Times of David, King of Israel ; or, The Life of Faith 
Exemplified. By " C. H. M." Third edition, revised. i2mo, 200 
pp.^ Cloth,-6oc. 

The Gospel According to Moses, as seen in the Tabernacle and its 
Various Services. By George Rogers. New edition, enlarged 
i6mo, 124 pp. Paper, 50c; Cloth, 75c. 

No preacher or teacher should be ignorant of the truth which 
this small volume very simply but forcibly enunciates. — The Record. 

Outline of the Books of the Bible- By Rev. J. H. Brookes, D. D. 
Invaluable to the young student of the Bible as a " First Lessons" 
in the study of the Bible. 180 pp., cloth, 50c; Paper covers, 25c. 

Ruth, the Moabitess ; or, Gleanings in the Book of Ruth. By Henry 
MooREHOUSE. A characteristic series of Bible readings, full of 
suggestions and instruction. 

Neat i6mo, paper covers, 20c; cloth, gilt stamped, 40c. 

Contains many fresh and original remarks, all tending to practical 
usefulness ; a capital bit of commenting on a favorite book. — Spur- 
geon's Sword and Trowel, 

Bible Readings. By Henry Moorehouse. A series of eleven ser- 
mons of comment and exposition, by one pre-eminently the man of 
one book — an incessant, intense, prayerful student of the Bible. 
Neat, i6mo, paper covers, 30c; cloth, gilt stamped, 6oc. 

Current Discussions in Theology. By the Professors of Chicago 
Theological Seminary. Vol. I, cloth, i2mo^ 248 pp., $1.00; paper 
covers, 50c. Vol. II, 328 pp., cloth, $1.50. 

There is nothing in our language of this kind. The American 
student has had to choose between the exhaustive and unremitting 
labors which are the price of first-hand knowledge, and reviews 
which rarely fail of being colored with partiality or prejudice. The 
volume before us is a helpful, fair and trustworthy statement of the 
present position and recent movements of theology. — The Inde- 
pendent. 

It may be safely said that from no one book in the English 
language can ministers gather so much recent information con- 
cerning the topics treated. — Presbyterian Witness. 

The Date of Our Gospels. A critical argument and examination of 
evidences, particularly regarding their authenticity and authorship. 
By Samuel Ives Curtiss, D. D., Union Park Theological Semi- 
nary, Chicago. 

Sq. i6mo, neat, flexible cloth, 50c; paper edition, 25c. 
The argument is winnowed of superfluous words, and presents a 
luminous and brief case. — New York Independent. 

A New Catechism. By Rev. J. T Hyde. A manual of instruction 
for students and other thoughtful inquirers. 
Cloth, i2mo, $1.00. 



CHICAGO: F. H. REVELL, 148 &» 130 MADISON ST. 



AIDS IN CHRISTIAN WORK. 



Children's Meetings and How to Conduct Them. By I.ucY J. Rider 
and Nellie M. Carman. Introduction by Rev. J. H. Vincent, 
D. D. Contains contributions from over forty well-known workers 
among children, and gives the cream of their experience. The out- 
line lessons (over sixty in number), diagrams, and music will 
especially commend it to the thoughtful teacher. Pp. 208, cloth, 
net $1.00. 

It is a good book, that suggests something in addition to that 
which it conveys. — yournal and Messenger. 

The volume will be heartily welcomed by many having this most 
important part of the religious instruction of the young in hand. 
— Zion's Herald. 
Secret Power ; or, the Secret of Success in Christian Life and Christian 
Work. By D. L. Moody. Fifty-fifth thousand. i2mo volume, 
116 pp., rich gilt and black stamp, cloth, 60c; cheap edition, paper 
cover, 30c. 

Every page is full of stimulating thought for Christian workers. — 
Christian Commonwealth. 

The Work of Preaching Christ. By Bishop Charles Pettitt Mc- 
Ilvaine. a revised edition of an important little work. Paper 
covers, 15c. 

The Prayer Meeting and Its Improvement. By Rev. Lewis O. 
Thompson, with introduction by Rev. A. E. Kittredge, D. D, 
Sixth edition. Revised. An attractive volume. i2mo, pp. 256, $1.25. 
A valuable, because a very suggestive book. — S. S . Times. 
* * * " This is so good a book that we wish we could afford to 
give a copy of it to every young minister. Revive your prayer meet- 
ings and the churches will be revived. Mr. Thompson says some 
capital things in a telling manner, and, as his pages are full of fire 
and gunpowder, we hope certain old, worn-out things among us 
will be exploded, and good things set on fire. A brother who has 
this book handy will be helped to lead lively meetings, conducting 
them in varied ways, and expatiating on different topics, so as to 
keep up freshness, and avoid monotony and dullness. — C, H. Spur- 
geon. 

Revivals; Their Place and Power, By Rev. Herrick Johnson, D. 

D. Cloth, flexible, 25c. 

An admirable discussion of the subject. — Interior, 

We know of no publication that covers the ground so briefly and 

satisfactorily. — Baltimore Presbyterian. 

Dr. Johnson's experience has qualified him to speak upon this 

subj ec t . — Independen t. 

To the Work! To the Work! By D. L.Moody. Exhortations to 
Christians. Paper covers, 30c; Cloth boards, gilt dies, 60c. Just 
published. 

This nfew work by Mr. Moody, is in the line of his most success- 
ful efforts, that of stirring Christians to active, personal, aggressive 
work for the Master. Mr. Moody has frequently been heard to say 
that it was much better to set 100 men to work than to do the work 
of 100 men. This little volume will, we confidently believe, be a 
means of inspiring not hundreds but thousands to more efficient 
effort in Christian life. 

CHICAGO: F. H. BEVELL, 148 &- ijo MADISON ST. 



J 



PRE-MILLENNIAL LITERATURE. 



Pre -Millennial Essays. A series of papers on prophetical subjects by 
eminent writers. Edited by Nathaniel West, D. D. Issued in 
one large i2mo volume of 500 pages, $1.50. 

Those who desire to have, within the compass of a single volume, 
all that is necessary to an intelligent consideration of the subject, 
will find it here in a very readable form. It is certainly the ablest 
work that has appeared on the pre-millennial side. — Canada Pres- 
byterian, 

The best treatment of this subject from the pre-millenial side that 
has ever been published. — The Standard. 

It is pious, elaborate and fraternal. We are pleased with the 
forcible, yet candid style of argumentation. — Zioh*s Herald, 

Maranatha; or, the Lord Cometh. By Rev. J. H. Brookes, D. D. 

Pp. 445, cloth, $1.25 ; paper, 50c. 

Present Truth ; being the Testimony of the Holy Ghost on the Second 
Coming of the Lord, the Divinity of Christ, and the Personality of 
the Holy Ghost. By Rev. J. H. Brookes, D. D. 250 pp., fine 
cloth, 75c. Cheap edition, paper cover, 25c. 

Second Coming of Christ. By Rev. J. H. Brookes, D. D. Price, 15c. 

The Blessed Hope; or, The Glorious Coming of the Lord. By 
Willis Lord, D. D. New and cheaper edition. A practical treat- 
ise ; a volume well adapted to lead to a more joyous Christian life. 
250 pp., cloth, $1.00. Cheap edition, for circulation, paper covers 
only, 25c. 

Second Coming of Christ. By George Muller, of Bristol, Eng. 
A neat little tract of 32 pages, suitable for circulation. Per dozen, 
40c; 100 copies, $2.50. 

Jesus Is Coming. By W. E. B. A most popular hand book. Six- 
teenth thousand. Giving seven arguments in favor of the pre-mil- 
lennial coming — slating the distinction between the Rapture and 
the Revelation, and between the Church and the Kingdom — and 
containing a diagram, with explanations. New, enlarged edition, 
160 pp., cloth, 5cc; paper covers, 15c. 

Twenty Reasons for Believing that the Second Coming of the Lord 
is Near. 34 pages and cover, neat, 15c. Per dozen, $1.00. 

Epiphainia. A study in Prophecy. By E. J. Edgren, Professor of 
Biblical Interpretation in the Morgan Park Theological Seminary. 
i6mo, 112 pp., cloth, neat, 75c. 

Dr. Edgren writes as one who both loves and reveres the Sacr-ed 
Word. He has altogether made a book creditable in a literary not 
less than in an evangelical point of view. — Chicago Standard, 

Waiting for the Morning, and Other Poems. By the author of 
"Twenty Reasons for Believing the Coming of the Lord is Near." 
Sq. i6mo, pp. 54, red line, cloth, elegant, 50c. Cheap edition, paper 
covers, neat, 25c. 

The Second Coming of Christ. By D. L. Moody. Revised. 
Forty -second thousand, 32 pp. and cover, loc. Per dozen, $1.00. 



CHICAGO: F. H. REVELL, 148 <5r» iso MADISON ST, 



HELPS FOR INQUIRERS. 



Grace and Truth Under Twelve Different Aspects. By W. P. Mackay, 
M. A Forty-eighth thousand oi American edition. The English 
edition has reached a sale of over two hundred thousand, besides 
being translated into German, Spanish, Swedish Arabic. Italian, 
Dutch, Gaelic and Welsh. i2mo, pp. 282, paper, 35c; cloth, fine, 75c. 
Mr. iMoody says of this work : * I know of no book in print better 
adapted to aid in the work of him who would be a winner of souls, 
or to place in the hands of the unconverted." 

My Inquiry Meeting; or Plain Truths for Anxious Souls. By Robert 
Boyd D. D. Being the experience of a pastor during many years 
of personal dealing with anxious and careless souls. Pp. 64, 15c. 

For simplicity, clearness, and force of statement we have met with 
nothing that equals this little volume. We can think of no better 
service a pastor could render to Sunday-school teachers, and other 
guides of souls, than to secure their reading of these pages. Nor 
could inquirers have any better help in their search for truth. — The 
Interior . 

Glad Tidings. By Robert Boyd, D. D. A book for inquirers. 
i2mo, pp. 100, cloth, neat, 50c. Cheap edition, for circulation, 25c. 
This book has been used largely in connection with the great revival 
meetings both in Great Britain and this land. 

The Soul and Its Difficulties. By H. W. Soltau. Paper, pp. 

108. 8c. 
How to Be Saved; or, the Sinner Directed to the Saviour. By J. H. 

Brookes, D. D. Pp. 120, paper cover, 25c; cloth, 50c. 

The ^Vay to God and How to Find It. By D. L. Moody. 
Fifty-fifth thousand. A book for the inquirer and Christian 
worker. Cloth, rich black and gold stamp, 6oc; paper, tinted 
covers, 30c. 

The way of salvation is made as clear as simple language and forci- 
ble, pertinent illustration can make it. In two features it is equal to 
anything that Mr. Moody has produced — in close adherence to the 
Word of God, and in profound earnestness — while in simplicity, 
directness of appeal and originality it is superior. It is a great 
matter to send such a work, so full of Christ, all over the churches, 
where it may, by the work of the Spirit, arrest the careless and 
move the ungodly. — Lutheran Observer, 

God's Way of Salvation. By Alexander Marshall. A brief 
statement of the Way of Life, with answers to popular objeg- 
tions. Each brief page complete in itself, and containing a sermon 
in a nutshell. 48 pages and covers, 5c. Per hundred, $2.50. 

Doubts Removed. By C^sar Malan, D. D. Paper covers, 5c; per 
dozen, 50c. 

"It contains the clearest statements and illustrations on the sub- 
ject treated we have ever read." 

Welceiwe to Jesus. By Rev. C. H. Spurgeon. A series of 4 page 
tracts, with first page in attractive, illuminated designs, etc. Four 
different series, each containing 32 assortments. Price, per pack- 
age, 25c. 



CHICAGO: F, H. REVELL, 148 dt ijo MADISON ST, 



POPULAR DEVOTIONAL BOOKS. 



Prevailing Prayer: What Hinders It ? By D. L. Moody. Cloth, 
uniform with To the Work! Heaven, etc., 6oc ; paper covers, 30c. 

An earnest and solemn work, full of helpful hints on the aids and 
hindrances to prevailing prayer. 

" This great subject has been the theme of apostles and prophets, 
and of all good men in all ages of the world ; and my desire in send- 
ing forth this little volume is to encourage God's children to seek 
by prayer * to move the arm that moves the world.' " — Extract from 
Preface. 

The. Christian's Secret of a Happy Life By Hannah Whitall 
Smith; author of **A Happy Life." Revised edition, from entirely 
new plates. i2mo, 240 pp., cloth, black and gold stamp, $1.00; 
paper cover, 50c. 

A book we unhesitatingly recommend. We have not for years 
read a book with more delight and profit. — Southwestern Chris- 
tian Advocate. 

We are delighted with the book. It reaches the very core of 
Christian experience. — Baptist Weekly. 

Worthy of universal circulation. — Christian Union. 

Life, Warfare and Victory. By Maj. D. W. Whittle. Cloth, neat, 
124 pp., 60c; paper, 30c. 

This book has been prepared in the midst of evangelistic work, 
to meet the wish often expressed to the writer — that instruction 
given in Bible readings to young converts might be made available 
for their more careful study and permanent use. — Extract from 
Preface. 

Christ and the Scriptures. By Rev. Adolph Saphir. Cloth, i6mo, 
neat, 75c. 

To all disciples of Jesus this work commends itself at once by its 
grasp of truth, its insight, the life in it, and its spiritual force. — 
Christian Work, 

"In these days of doubt and hypercriticism such a volume, breath- 
ing a spirit of earnest devotion, lifting the mind to a better con- 
ception of the immeasureable worth of the Person and the Word, and 
written, too, by a son of Israel, cannot but be welcome and helpful. " 

The Holy Life. A book for Christians seeking the " Rest of Faith." 
By Rev. Evan H. Hopkins. Fifth thousand, i8mo, 115 pages, 
cloth, beveled edge, 60c. 

Walking Worthy of God. A reprint from the works of Rev. John 
Flavell, with an introduction by (and published at the request 
of) Maj. D. W. Whittle. A valuable book for circulation — an 
incentive to Christian living. 

Sq. i6mo, pp. 43, 15c. 
Gems from Northfield. A Record of the Best Thoughts exchanged 
at the Conference for Bible Study, convened at Northfield, by D. 
L. Moody. 

i2mo, pp. 116. Price $1.00. 

The thoughts and expositions of Scripture which are presented in 
this volume are of rare practical value. — Herald and Presbyter, 



CHICAGO: F. H. REVELL, 14S & ijo MADISON ST. 



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